Mine
by Jo McIntosh
Summary: Kendra was normal. She had great parents, amazing friends, perfect grades. In her mind nothing could go wrong with her life and she would get to go into graphic design like she wanted. But he dashed her hopes. He murdered her parents and kidnapped her to be his personal plaything. She was also very drawn to him in the most confusing of ways. His name? Jeff the Killer.
1. Chapter 1

Terror and grief filled Kendra's heart at the sight of her parents lying in puddles of their own blood. Their faces were frozen in a state of agony, telling her they didn't die painlessly. Covering her mouth, Kendra Sendrick dropped to her knees and let out a sob. She stared at her parents, wondering what she could have possibly done to be orphaned at the tender age of sixteen.

A creak in the floorboards made Kendra turn, and she let out a bloodcurdling shriek at the sight of a man with a carved smile and no eyelids. The knife he held glinted in the moonlight, showing off the blood it was covered in. Kendra was staring at the killer of her parents, and she was being forced to face the cruel reality she was next.

"J-Just get it over with!" she shouted at him, feeling as though she no longer had anything to live for. Her tears began falling harder when she looked back at her dead parents, waiting for the man behind her to finish her off. "What are you waiting for?" she snapped at him, turning once more to see a curious look on his face.

"You aren't scared?"

"I'm terrified, you idiot!" she screamed at him, standing up so she could attempt to look him in the eyes despite her short stature.

"Then why ask me to kill you?"

"You just killed my parents, jackass! Kill me and get it over with so I don't have to deal with how much this hurts!" She glared at him, clenching her fists at her sides. She refused to stand down, not wanting to feel like a weak child just days before her seventeenth birthday. Her tears still ran in a steady flow, but she ignored them in favor of showing this man just how enraged she was. "What's your problem?" she snarled after several long minutes.

Jeff ignored her, deciding to continue his decision making. He could just kill her and leave, like she seemed to want, or he could bring her with him as entertainment for when he got bored. She was definitely feisty, and her insults amused him. Making a final decision, he stepped towards her. He snickered when fear flashed in her and she took a step back. The fear dissipated instantly though, as she appeared to harden her resolve. When he took another step towards her, she didn't move an inch.

"I think you're far too entertaining for me to put you to sleep just yet," he stated calmly, then quickly reached out and pinched a pressure point that caused her to pass out in an instant.

Catching her in his arms, he set her on the floor so he could carve a quick message into the wall. When he finished, he picked the girl up and threw her over his shoulder before leaving out the window he came in.

Kendra woke up extremely disoriented. Looking around, she saw she wasn't in her bedroom, or any bedroom really. The walls surrounding her were covered in dust and cobwebs. She wrinkled her nose at the stench that suddenly assaulted her, reminding her of the septic tank at home that had to be dug up because it hadn't been functioning properly. The wreak didn't leave the house for weeks. When her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw her ankle was chained to the wall and she was still in her Ghost busters pajamas.

Kendra didn't even bother to be embarrassed about what she was wearing, instead focusing more of her attention on her surroundings. There was a staircase leading up on the opposite end of the room and a table close to her. Her head hurt too badly for her to stand and see if anything was on it, so she disregarded it for the time being.

Her final observation was of the dirt encrusted window on the far wall, doing more to block the sunlight than let it in. It's shape and size told her she was in a basement of some kind. Groaning, she leaned against the dirty wall behind her. _What have I gotten myself into?_ she thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling.

Moments later, she could hear footsteps on the concrete stairs. She looked over and saw a black haired man with a cruel grin that made all of her memories come crashing down on her. She glared up at him when he stopped in front of her, not saying a word.

"It looks like the little rose is finally awake," he said with clear amusement. He knelt down in front of her, leveling their gazes. "Is she ready to play?" he asked, his grin somehow growing colder.

In response, Kendra spat in his face. He flinched, and wiped off her saliva with disgust. His amusement sparked into anger, but Kendra held her ground. He sneered at her and stood up again, going to the table that Kendra had ignored earlier.

He picked up various weapons, looking them over before setting them down. Finally, he settled on a rusted dagger. Grinning once more, he returned to his position in front of her. He waved the dagger in her paling face, then clenched the hilt and stabbed her in the thigh.

Kendra screamed in pain, wanting to yank out the dagger but knowing if she did it would make her situation worse. The man chuckled at her agony, watching with amusement dancing in his eyes, rather than removing the dagger and helping her.

When Kendra got used to the pain, she glared at him. She panted, ignoring the blade in her leg. He met her furious glare with a euphoric one of his own. Disgusted by the pleasure he felt from causing her pain, Kendra sneered at him. "Watch yourself, flower," he said. "We wouldn't want that pretty face of yours to get scarred, now would we?"

"Go fuck yourself," she snapped in response.

Laughing, the man stood. "I think I might enjoy you for a while. You might actually last longer than the rest of the toys I've brought home. Rest well, flower, you have a long night ahead of you." With that, the man left.

Kendra watched as he walked up the stairs with a confidence that irked her. Pushing down her anger and frustration, Kendra scooted herself towards the table. Biting her lip through the pain, she grabbed the edge and forced herself to stand. Now that she was able to see the contents of the table, she was overjoyed to see a first aid kit. She tried to reach for it, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get her hands on it unless she straightened her knees.

Whimpering in pain, Kendra forced herself to stand further. Once she closed her grip around the handle, she collapsed. Sweating from the exertion, Kendra propped herself up against the closest wall and opened the kit. Ripping off a piece of her shirt, she pressed it around the part of the blade that wasn't buried in her skin. Gripping the hilt, Kendra took a deep breath before yanking it out.

Crying out in agony, she quickly pressed the ripped cloth in her hand to the wound, pressing down to slow the bleeding while she got what she needed from the first aid kit. _Thank God Dad taught me how to do this_ , she thought as she pulled out the rubbing alcohol.

Slowly peeling off the blood soaked fabric, Kendra quickly replaced it with the drenched gauze. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on her lip while the rubbing alcohol cleaned away germs that could cause infection. The pain grew intense, then began to ease. When she was able to tolerate it, she pulled the gauze away.

Kendra examined the wound. Now that she had removed the dagger and cleaned the injury, the bleeding had slowed immensely. She turned her attention back to the first aid kit and dug around for a stitching needle and surgical thread. When she found what she was looking for, she sighed in relief that it was actually there.

Since the needle was packaged, she felt she didn't need to worry about sanitizing it. Which was good because she had no way of doing so. Retrieving the needle, she threaded it and began to work at sewing up her leg. She clenched her teeth through the pain, tying off the surgical thread when she was finished. She grabbed the scissors in the kit and snipped off the excess. Putting away the tools she had used, Kendra grabbed out the gauze and bandages. When she finished wrapping her leg and tying the bandages securely, she slumped over.

"Jesus Christ, that hurt," she mumbled before falling asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Kendra woke up to a painful throbbing in her leg. Whimpering, she opened her eyes to see the man pressing a finger into the bandage right where her stitches were. When he saw her awake, he added more pressure, making the pain spike. Too tired to do anything but whimper, Kendra stared at him.

"You were a bad little flower, weren't you? You were supposed to stay still and not get into anything, but I come down here to find you cleaned yourself up. Such a rude rose you are."

By now, the pain was beginning to wake Kendra up. Refueling the rage she felt, she snarled at him. She swatted away his hand and brought her knees to her chest as a barrier between her and him.

The man 'tsked' at her actions and shook his head. He reached up and patted her unruly red hair. He got no response, only her usual glare. He smirked down at her, the redhead's fury only amusing him. "Such a pretty little rose," he said calmly, trying to provoke her.

"Stop calling me that," she snarled at him, making him grin in success.

"But the nickname suits you so well," he purred, leaning closer to her.

She leaned back, pressing herself against the dirty wall behind her. It wasn't until then that she noticed the first aid kit was gone, making her panic slightly at what he had done with it. If he planned on hurting her again, she would have no way to take care of her injuries and that terrified her more than he did.

"You have no need to be afraid, Kendra. I'll take good care of you," the man said, noticing her panic.

Disgust welled inside her when he ran a finger down her leg. "Don't touch me!" she snapped, glaring daggers.

Laughing his amusement, Jeff yanked on her ankles and forced her onto her back. She gasped in surprise when loomed over her, his hands on either side of her head. Jeff grinned down at her, enjoying the fear in her eyes. "You're mine now, Kendra. You'd do well to remember that."

Kendra shivered when he whispered in her ear, wishing it didn't feel as good as it did. She pushed against his chest in a feeble attempt to get him off of her. She really hoped he wouldn't do anything to violate her. She prided herself on her virginity, and she really didn't want it taken away from her in the worst way possible.

The man above her nibbled on her earlobe, earning a squeak that Kendra had tried her best to hold back. The sound must have encouraged him, because the next thing she knew his lips were on her neck. Her attempts to push him off of her grew more frantic as he teased the skin where her neck met her shoulder.

Her hands were suddenly pinned above her head and her captor was hovering above her face with a look of annoyance. She froze, terrified of what might come next. When he felt satisfied she wasn't going to squirm anymore, he went back to his task.

When Kendra felt teeth graze her skin, she whimpered. "P-Please stop."

Jeff felt a feeling of accomplishment at breaking her resolve, not stopping his actions. He may be a serial killer, but he still had needs he needed taken care of. Grabbing both her skinny wrists in one hand, Jeff slipped his free hand under her torn shirt. The feeling of her soft skin urged him on, but he was soon interrupted by someone shouting his name upstairs. Growling his annoyance, he got off of his redhead and stormed out of the basement.

Kendra moved to sit herself up again, forcing back tears as she watched the man leave. Her relief that he stopped was so immense, she started crying. Wiping at her eyes, Kendra curled into the fetal position and stared at the dirt covered concrete floor. She began to feel as though she would never escape this dreary basement. Tears began to stream down her face again as she remembered her parents dead bodies lying on the floor.

Kendra pretended they were there with her, hugging her, comforting her. Sniffling, she wiped the tears away again. She hugged her legs tight, wishing she had her giant teddy bear with her.

Kendra heard footsteps, making her look up from the floor. Her stomach twisted into knots when she saw who it was, scared he might be back to finish what he had started. Cowering into the corner, she stared up at his paper white face. "Relax, I'm too annoyed to fuck you right now," he snapped at her. She did relax, her look of terror changing to a questioning one. "Don't look at me like that," he snapped again, making her raise an eyebrow.

"What's your deal?" she asked, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"My deal is that everyone I live with is an idiot."

Kendra giggled. "In my opinion, there are a rare few who aren't idiots."

Jeff stared at her, surprised she had laughed when only a moment ago she was scared out of her mind. "Yeah well, the people I live with are _special_ idiots."

"Special as in _special ed_ or special like they do stupid shit that gets on your nerves?"

"The do stupid shit that gets on my nerves," he answered, beginning to relax. He sat in front of his captive, leaning back on his arms.

"That is almost every male in the U.S.," she stated, crossing her arms.

Jeff let out a snort, smirking at the ginger in front of him. He examined her for a moment, taking in her read hair and vibrant green eyes and light colored skin that wasn't exactly pale. Her height made her adorable, but if she were any taller she would be down right sexy. She gave off a confident aura that gave an impression she could take on the world and then some.

Jeff could tell he picked the right person to kidnap. He knew for a fact he was going to enjoy his time with her, even if she hated every second. Smirking after a long silence of them staring at each other, Jeff crawled over to her again. He watched as she tensed and narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you just relax and let me enjoy myself?" he asked playfully, running his index finger between her breasts.

She went back to glaring at him and pushed his hand away. "I'd rather not let disgusting pigs enjoy themselves with my body," she snapped at him.

Jeff snickered and pinned her wrists to her sides. "And how exactly are you going to stop me?"

Kendra felt her fear swell when she realized he was right. She had no power in this situation, and her kidnapper could do whatever he wanted to her. With a small whimper, Kendra stopped talking and waited for the worst to happen.

Nothing did. Several minutes passed by, and her captor had still done nothing. She looked at him to see he was watching her on curiosity. "You are the most confusing killer-rapist-psycho ever," she muttered, looking at her lap.

The man chuckled and let her go. "I know, but I'm not a rapist. You're the only one I've actually tried that on. Be glad I decided not to today, cause you might not be so lucky next time," and with that, she was alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Kendra had been left alone for so long, she learned to tell the difference between night and day from the color of the dirt on the basement window. She had to guess she had been abandoned for almost a week. The only signs someone ever came down here was the water and food she would sometimes wake up to.

Taking a drink out of the tall glass she had received, Kendra resumed her fantasy of being with her friends. She guessed her birthday was today, so she had them throwing a birthday party for her. Setting the cup down, she leaned back against the wall so she could stare at the ceiling while she daydreamed.

 _"Happy birthday, Kendra!" her best friend, Katie Gallagher, shouted happily._

 _Kendra laughed. "Thanks, Katie," she said, wrapping her arm around the waist of the taller female in a hug._

 _Katie returned it, grinning from ear to ear. They stepped inside the redhead's home in excitement. Both girls were anticipating the slumber party that was going to be thrown that night._

Someone snapping their fingers in front of Kendra's face pulled her out of her thoughts. Jumping, Kendra straightened and looked at who was interrupting her imaginary birthday party. She sighed when she saw the killer or her parents staring at her with an annoyed expression. "What?" she asked, exasperation evident in her tone.

"I've been down here for ten minutes and you haven't said a word. What the hell were you thinking about?" Kendra shrugged, deciding she didn't want him to know today was her birthday. She watched as his annoyance grew, making him run his fingers through his hair. "That isn't an answer."

"Then you aren't getting one, are you?"

Rolling his eyes, Jeff decided to not push it. He figured she would be stubborn, and he didn't want to accidentally kill her because he couldn't control his anger. Looking at her for several moments, he sat in front of her when he decided he wouldn't just use her as a toy. He needed someone to talk to, damn it.

"Normally people don't abandon a new toy for a week after just getting it," Kendra commented, earning a strange look from her captor.

"Did you just refer to yourself as a toy?"

Kendra ignored the question. "And normally roses wilt by then, hell any flower would wilt after a week without care."

"I did care for you. You got water and food."

"Once a day, which is barely enough to keep me from dying. If you keep on like this, I'll end up thinner than paper."

"Why should I care?"

"You told me I'm both your new toy and your 'little flower'. Typically people take care of both better than you are right now, so I'm guessing I must not be a very pretty rose, or a very good toy."

The kidnapper stared at her, then began to laugh. Kendra crossed her arms, her expression not changing from the blank one she was wearing. "I'm glad my request for more food and water is so amusing to you," she stated, eventually rolling her eyes when he didn't stop laughing.

Jeff calmed his laughter, wiping away tears that were forming. "I was busy, little rose, otherwise I would have visited sooner and played with you more. I'll keep in mind to make sure you don't get lonely if you're so desperate for interaction."

"I'm not!" Kendra protested, her patience wearing thin.

"You can't expect me to believe that whole dialogue of yours was just because you wanted enough food and water to remain healthy?" Kendra gave an exasperated roll of her eyes, then gave him a look that said that was exactly what she expected. "Fine, I'll bring you food and water more often. Anything else?"

"No. Even if I did, I'm not in a position to be making demands that weren't for my survival." He laughed again, throwing his head back from the force of it. His laughter began to grate on Kendra's nerves, especially since he was doing it at her expense. "What the hell is so funny?" she snapped at him, her glare feeling foreign after a week of not using it.

"Nothing!" he sang, putting Kendra on her guard. A flash of annoyance crossed his face when there were voices heard from the upper levels of the house. He stood, stomping across the floor and all the way up the steps. Kendra watched him leave, then looked back up at the ceiling.

 _"Kendra? Is that you?" her mom called from the kitchen, popping out for a moment to see who had entered the house._

 _"Yeah, it's me, Momma!" she called back._

 _"I'm here too, Momma!" Katie shouted, making the two girls burst into giggles._

 _"Hello, Katie. I'm glad you could make it," her mother responded warmly before returning to her tasks in the kitchen._

Kendra sighed at the memory of her mother's voice, closing her eyes so she could imagine her parents more vividly. She felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks, and drop onto her limp arms. When she opened her eyes again, a face hovered above her.

Jumping for the second time that evening, Kendra let out a short shriek before calming herself. Her heart raced as she she stared wide-eyed the blond in front of her. He stared back, his creepy black eyes and red pupils freaking the redhead out. "Who are you?" she snapped when she finally got ahold of herself.

The boy grinned at her question, but didn't answer. Instead he said, "You're pretty."

Kendra couldn't stop herself from glancing around her as if there was even a small possibility he was talking to someone else. "Um...thanks?"

"What's your name?" he asked, sitting down in front of her.

"Kendra?" she phrased her answer as a question, showing her discomfort and confusion.

"That's a pretty name. I'm BEN."

Kendra stared at the blond now known as BEN. She didn't say anything else, hoping if she remained silent he would get bored and go away. She would prefer to spend her kidnapping in isolation, and she was in no mood to make new friends.

"Your hair makes you look like a rose, you know. I like your eyes. Do you play video games? You want to play a video game with me? I could get you out of that shackle if you want, but you would have to promise to play a game with me."

Kendra saw an opportunity when he finished talking, making the wheels in her head turn at a rapid pace. "Alright, I promise," she lied, giving him a fake smile.

She watched as BEN grinned and got the shackle off of her. He helped her up, catching her when she almost lost her balance. Her shaking legs made her doubt she could pull off what she planned, but she pushed it aside. _I'll cross that bridge when I get to it._

Kendra pretended to listen to BEN's rambling, focusing on her steps so she wouldn't trip over her own feet. When they finally came to the top of the basement stairwell, Kendra winced. Sun poured in through the windows, which were huge compared to the one window she had to deal with the last week.

When Kendra's eyes adjusted to the light, she examined her surroundings. When she found the door leading outside roughly twelve feet away, she beamed. Glancing back at the boy who had given her this second chance, she sent up a silent prayer to bless him. When she finished, she bolted towards her freedom. She ignored shouts of surprise and confusion, concentrating on her goal.

Suddenly, Kendra slammed into a wall of black. She stumbled, only for long fingers to wrap around her arms to keep her from falling. Looking up, she saw a man with pure white skin and no face. She stared in shock, then began to struggle when she remembered just how close to freedom she was. "Let me go!" she shouted, trying to wrench her arms out of his iron grip.

"Jeffrey!"

Kendra froze when she heard a static-like voice that seemed to come from all directions. She was suddenly terrified, and the only thing she could do was try to make herself look smaller and nonthreatening. The mans head was still pointed down at her, as if were staring. Kendra whimpered, cowering away from him.

"What do you- how the fuck did she get out?!" a familiar voice shouted in anger.

Kendra craned her neck to see her captor standing at the base of another set of stairs that lead farther up the house. He was glaring harshly at her, his hands clenched into tight fists.

"I let out her go," the blond who set her free answered, the child like tone he had held completely gone.

Her kidnapper turned to face her rescuer with barely controlled rage. "What gave you the idea to do _that_?" he growled out.

"I figured Slender needed to know about your little secret. Especially since he told you no more kidnappings."

At the mention of Slender, the man turned to face Kendra and the blank faced man keeping her restrained. Kendra looked up again to see his white head facing the direction of the killer. She didn't know how, but she could tell he was furious at him.

The two seemed to stare at each other, the anger coming from both males powerful and deadly. When the unknown man's grip tightened around her arms, Kendra whimpered in pain. The sound brought their attention, and their anger, to her.

"Hey, don't be mad at me! I'm the victim in all of this!" she squeaked her protest, trying her best not to show how terrified she was to be on the receiving end of their fury.

The man, who Kendra guessed was Slender, loosened his grip and set her upright. She wobbled, nearly losing her balance again. She threw her arms to the sides to keep herself steady, pausing for a moment before dropping them and standing correctly.

She looked around to see the attention of everyone in the room on her. She ignored them all and settled on her kidnapper, smirking triumphantly. Now she would either die, or be set free. Either way, she would never have to see his face again.


	4. Chapter 4

The air was so thick with anger Kendra was surprised she didn't see a red hue covering everything. She had taken the period of silence to think, wondering if she'd be able to make a break for it. But now that the sunlight didn't hurt her eyes, she knew if she tried she would only hurt herself with the thick forest surrounding the house.

Hoping for another means of escape, Kendra looked around. She was quickly distracted, however, when she saw the Starry Night hanging above the fireplace. Sucking in her breath, she stepped towards the painting to get a better look. She stared at it in awe, even though she knew it had be a copy. It still took her breath away, the fact she got the chance to see such an amazingly beautiful painting in person.

Due to all of her attention being on the painting, she didn't hear the conversation now going on until her name was mentioned. She instantly gained interest, pretending to still be captivated by the art while she listened.

"-will be your responsibility from now on."

"That's not much of a punishment, baldy."

"Did I forget to mention you aren't to lay a hand on her in any way, shape, or form without her permission?"

"What?!"

"You heard me! You are to protect Kendra and see she gets whatever she asks for."

"Uh, Slender, I know this isn't any of my business, but aren't you basically asking Jeff to be her servant?"

Pause.

"Very well, I will relent on that aspect, but you are still to make sure she is comfortable and safe while she settles in."

"Why can't we just kill her and forget about it?"

"Because then you wouldn't learn anything! Honestly, Jeffrey, I am not about to let you just open up a space so you can kidnap someone else."

"I don't get why you're so against me kidnapping people."

"The screams in the middle of the night have gotten old, Jeffrey. The _are_ others here who do sleep and, while _you_ may not need it, they do."

After the explanation from the static-filled voice, everything was quiet. Her curiosity piqued, Kendra looked over at the group of people to see they were all looking at her suddenly. "What?" she asked, confused by the attention. No one answered her, making her confusion grow profusely. As the silence dragged on, she felt a leak of frustration. Patching the hole, she took a deep breath. "Helloooo? Did your brains just shut down or something? Or am I really so fascinating that you have to stare?"

"I apologize, Kendra, that was rude."

"S'okay, I guess. Still doesn't answer my question, though. What's with the drool fest?"

"It's not a fucking drool fest!" Jeff snapped.

"I don't know about the other two, but I was staring because you look cute as hell in those PJs."

She looked over at BEN, raising an eyebrow. "And why are you suddenly not a child?"

"Needed to get you to trust me so I could get the shackle off of ya."

"And you couldn't just be nice without acting like a creepy child?"

"Not as fun." He gave a tooth filled grin, only to get smacked upside the head by Jeff. "What was that for?" he shouted, rubbing the assaulted area.

"For flirting with my stuff!"

"It's not like you're allowed to do anything to her!"

"Woah! Slow down, and back up! I am not _your_ property," she pointed at Jeff with a harsh glare. "And I never will be! I don't belong to _anyone_. You kidnapping me doesn't change that."

Jeff gave her a smug look. "Actually, it kind of does."

"Actually, it kind of doesn't," she mocked, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Jeffrey, she is not your 'toy' anymore. You are no longer allowed to refer to her as such," Slender interfered, his tone filled with annoyance.

Kendra shot him a triumphant smirk of her own, earning a glare that she ignored. Suddenly, a phrase in the conversation she had listened to popped out. "Wait a minute, back up even more. What the hell do you mean by 'settled?'" she asked Slender, assuming he was the source of the static voice.

"I mean you are to be living here from now on."

Kendra stared at the man in the suit, anger and curiosity fighting for domination over her thoughts. After a long stretch of silence, anger won. "Who the fuck said that was going to happen?!" she snapped, glaring daggers at him. "The last thing I want is to live in a place with a blank-faced freak, psycho killer, and a fucking Link cosplayer!" She glared at each one, daring them to oppose her. When no one said anything, she crossed her arms. "I have a life, even if the kidnapping bastard over there killed my parents. I still have school and friends. I want to go to college and get my dream job. I sure as hell don't want to live here and be forced to face someone who threatened to rape me day in and day out."

Sender's attention moved to Jeff at her last comment. "You did _what_?"

"I didn't do anything, she's lying!" Jeff defended, frantic.

"Lying!?" Kendra shrieked, whipping her head towards him. "I'm not lying you disgusting, disease ridden pig!"

"That escalated quickly," BEN commented, looking between the two.

"Enough, both of you!" Slender shouted, earning the silence of the bickering couple. "Kendra, I apologize for what Jeffrey may have done to you since you were kidnapped, but that does not change my decision. You are to be living here with us so Jeffrey may deal with the consequences of his actions."

"You just called me a punishment."

"That is not what I-"

"You. Just. Called me. A. Punishment. Holy shit, so far the only one who hasn't been a dick to me is BEN-"

"Yay!"

"-and I'm going to be forced to live with this? What's next, your going to make your maid?"

"Kendra, please, calm down."

"Oh, you did _not_ just tell me to calm down."

"I think he did exactly that."

"You're right, BEN. Hold my bracelet." Kendra took off the charm bracelet she always wore and held it out for BEN to grab.

"You go, girl!"

"Kendra please don't do anything rash," Slender pleaded, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Oh, I'm going to do _way more_ than rash!" She lunged at him, only to be stopped by something that looked suspiciously like a tentacle. "Oh, gross! Get it off, get it off!" Kendra went from furious to disgusted in a split second, making Slender drop her. Landing on her backside, she grunted. "Coulda been nice about it!"

"You just tried to attack me."

"That's no excuse!"

BEN was now on his knees and clutching his stomach from the force of his laughter. Jeff was laughing alongside him, only not as obnoxiously. At the sounds of their laughter, Kendra couldn't help but start giggling. She covered her mouth as she laughed, trying to control herself.

"Stop it! I'm supposed to be pissed here!"


	5. Chapter 5

When everything calmed down, Kendra was once again glaring at the tallest man she had ever seen. She refused to accept she would have to live in a house where she knew absolutely no one. She wanted to go back home and cry with Katie over the death of her parents, then scream in excitement over living together.

"Please, Kendra, accept you must stay here. After meeting us, if you leave the protection of our home without proper training, you'll be in danger."

Kendra didn't answer, throwing her legs over BEN's lap and grabbing his hand to play with his fingers. He was the only one who hasn't forced her to do anything. Hell, he even asked if she wanted him to take off the chain keeping her imprisoned. Since he was the only one who hadn't pissed her off, she decided he was going to be her best friend. She would need one if she was going to stay here.

Toying with BEN's fingers, Kendra started to think. As much as she didn't want to live in a house with a psychopath and his freak of a friend, it sounded like she didn't have much of a choice. With a deep sigh, she shrugged dejectedly to show her resignation.

The tension in the room eased the second she gave up, but she didn't feel relaxed at all. The sadness settling in her stomach was mixing with the anger and anxiety she had accumulated over the past week, and it was beginning to form a knot that made her homesick.

"Thank you."

"For what? Doing what you want like a good little flower?" she snapped, spitting out the pet name Jeff had given her as though it were curdled milk. At her outburst, BEN actually rubbed her arm in a comforting gesture. Kendra looked at him, then leaned her head on his shoulder. "All you were asking me to do was to not put up a fight."

"That's not true."

"Oh don't give me that bull. I could tell you were going to make me stay here whether I wanted to or not. All I'm doing is giving in to how exhausted I am from sleeping on a concrete floor several nights in a row." Kendra began to wonder if she would ever get to see her friends again, or if she would get to graduate high school, go to college, and finally realize her dream of being a Graphic Designer. By now, she had stopped messing with BEN's fingers, simply staring at them with a saddened expression.

"Kendra? Are you alright?"

Slender's question made the anger come back. She leveled her gaze where his eyes were supposed to be and gave a hostile glare. "No, I'm not alright. My dreams are being crushed and my hopes are being dashed right in front of me. I'm seventeen, and I have a whole life ahead of me that I'll never get to experience because of _you_."

Silence followed her angry speech as she continued to glare at Slender. A scoff interrupted it, drawing Kendra's attention towards Jeff. "Well boo-fucking-hoo. You have to miss out on a whole lifetime of opportunities! Might as well as get pissed at everyone for it and get all depressed! 'Cause _that_ will solve everything!"

Kendra felt her anger grow so intensely hot, that tears began to fall. "You shut up. You have no right to treat me like that when you're the entire reason I'm in this mess! If you had just killed me like I asked you to, no one would be in any sort of trouble and I sure as hell wouldn't be feeling this awful!"

Before Jeff got a chance to respond, Slender interrupted. "That's enough, Jeffrey."

Jeff shut up, and the conversation was pulled to a stop. BEN rambled on, acting like a child again despite saying he was only pretending the first time around. Kendra didn't say a word in response, only stared blankly at the playful blond's hand. She began to push the digits down, counting out the things she lost since the first night.

One. _My parents._ Two. _My home._ Three. _My friends._ Four. _My life._ Five. _My happiness._

The day soon turned into night, and Kendra had to sleep on the couch. She stared at the clock on the DVD player, watching as the numbers changed. It now read 1:32 am, and the redhead was no closer to sleep than she was a half-hour ago. Turning to lay on her back, Kendra stared at the dark ceiling above her. She began to seek out shapes, trying to keep her mind from wandering so she wouldn't sink into her depressing thoughts.

A loud bang made her shoot upright. Looking around frantically for the source of the noise, Kendra shifted to her knees so she could get a better view of behind the couch. When she didn't see anything, her panic flared. She stared at the darkness in front of her, holding her breath while she looked for some sign it was someone she already knew.

When a man dressed as a twisted version of a clown stepped into her line of vision, Kendra screamed in terror. She was petrified of clowns, and this fear made her hide under the blanket Slender had given her. Her shrieks probably woke up BEN, because a second later he was downstairs with a frenzied look, bed head hair, and wearing nothing but boxers. "The hell is going on?!" he shouted.

"C-c-clown!" Kendra managed, still hiding under her blanket.

"What?"

"I think she means me."

"Ya think, dip shit? What I want to know is why she's screaming bloody-fucking-murder in the middle of the god damn night!"

"Jack, it would be best if you left the room. It is apparent Kendra has a fear of clowns."

"For fuck's sake, get her to shut up before I do!"

"F-fuck you, Jeff!" she shouted, not sure how she was able to say anything other than 'clown'.

"Alright, Kendra, you can relax. He has left."

Kendra peeked out from under her blanket, verifying Slender's words before actually relaxing. "Sorry about that," she muttered, her face heating up in embarrassment.

"It's fine. Now shut up and go to sleep!" Jeff snapped before storming back up the stairs.

"Good night to you too, Mr. Ray of Sunshine."

BEN didn't even snort at her insult, too tired and annoyed to care. He followed Jeff's lead and returned to his room. Slender left soon as well after making sure Kendra was alright.

Kendra yawned, the excitement of being scared by a clown wearing down on her. She laid down, falling asleep the second her head hit the cushions.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Kendra woke up to five faces and a perverted grin. She blinked, her newly awake brain taking several seconds longer than normal to process the information. When she did, she focused on the person closest to her. "Wipe that grin off your face, or I'll do it for you." The man, who looked a lot like Slender, just laughed and walked into the kitchen.

When the creep left, she looked at the rest of the group. "Go away, or I'll scream."

"Fucking hell, don't make her scream. It's too early in the fucking morning for my ears to bleed."

"Your eardrums will probably explode," Kendra agreed. Everyone actually took a step back, making her laugh.

Kendra sat up, stretching. She heard three pops from her spine, making her slump over in relief. She yawned, standing up from the couch. "I need coffee!"

"Make it yourself!"

"You make it for me!"

"Fat chance! It's more likely I'll stop killing!"

"Damn it, Jeff. Make me the fucking coffee!"

"No!"

Despite his answer, ten minutes later he brought Kendra her coffee. He sat on the couch next her, grumbling in annoyance and drinking his own cup of the bitter liquid.

"Thank you!" Kendra said cheerily, then took a sip. She suddenly spit it out all over a guy with a mask that had feminine features.

"Ew! It's black!"

"You didn't say what you wanted in it!"

"That's because you said you weren't going to make it!"

"I swear to fucking God, if I have to wake up every morning to you two fighting I will kill someone important."

Kendra looked over to see BEN just now coming down the steps.

"Justin Beiber?"

"I said someone important," BEN snapped, making Kendra burst into a fit of giggles.

"Hey, watch it!" Jeff shouted when Kendra nearly fell over and dropped his coffee.

"You watch it!"

"I wasn't the one flailing all over the place!"

"You were still in my way!"

"Shut the fuck up before rip someone's head off their shoulders!" BEN snapped, the kitchen making his voice echo.

"I see everyone is up," Slender commented, making his way into the living room wearing a pair of black silk pajamas.

"Unfortunately," BEN grumbled, coming back into the kitchen with a glass of apple juice.

"Are you seriously drinking a juice that's for kids?"

"Shut up! Its amazing and beats coffee. You're just jealous I'm the only one who knows where it is."

Kendra yawned, then slouched on her seat. They were all watching Pacific Rim and she thought it was the most boring movie she had ever seen. Not even the monsters coming out made her wake up. She had nearly passed out on BEN's shoulder several times.

When the credits finally rolled, she let out a groan to show her displeasure. "That was the single most boring action movie I had ever seen, and I watched the most recent Godzilla where Godzilla only gets ten minutes on screen."

BEN, having been the one who picked the movie out, pouted. "I thought it was a great movie!"

"Then you have bad taste in movies. Iron Man is a great movie. Avengers is a great movie. Fucking hell, even _Twilight_ was a great movie compared to the boring crap I just watched."

"Damn, that's brutal," Jeff commented, actually not disagreeing with her for once. Sure, the movie wasn't _Twilight_ bad, but it wasn't the greatest either.

"Well, it's the truth."

BEN huffed, scooting away from her. Kendra snorted at the blonds actions, taking them as an opportunity to lay down and rest her head on his lap. He whined in protest, but didn't make her get off.

"I'm getting sick of watching movies."

"What else are we supposed to do? You don't have any training yet and it's not like we can take you on a killing spree."

"Ew, I'm not getting blood anywhere near me thank you very much!"

Jeff smirked. "If you don't watch where your head is, you might get more than blood."

Kendra sat up at that, staring at BEN's red face. "OH MY GOD!" she shrieked, and rushed off the couch and onto the floor. She ended up on Jeff's lap, but she didn't care enough to get off. Instead, she clung to him, staring at BEN in horror.

"I'm...just gonna go," he muttered, then rushed to closest bathroom.

"Gross," Kendra whined. She stiffened when a pair of lips were on her neck.

"You seem perfectly happy here."

Shrieking for a second time, Kendra bolted out of the room and left behind a laughing Jeff.


	7. Chapter 7

A week later, Kendra finally found out what kind of training she had to go through. She had to learn how to _kill_ people. Make their heart stop and everything! She felt slightly disgusted and disturbed. Her reluctance irritated Jeff, so most of the time he yelled at her.

"Holy shit, get over it! It's not like you actually have to kill anyone, you just need to learn so you can defend yourself!"

"Then teach me self defense! Do you have any idea how dangerous it would be to give a teenage girl the knowledge on how to kill someone and get away with it? Especially of it was someone like me! In case you haven't noticed, I tend to let my anger get the best of me."

"Yeah, I noticed. Why should I care who you kill? As long as you can keep yourself alive, Slender couldn't give a shit what you do!"

"I'm not asking you to care, dumbass! I care, because it's wrong and it goes against everything my parents taught me about life. I'll be damned if I do anything that might ruin what they had spent nearly seventeen years trying to build."

"They're dead, Kendra. It's not like they'll know what you're doing."

"That's the whole point! You took them from me before I was ready to be on my own, so I'm going to do my best to do their memory proud and be the best I can be. And killing anyone will put me so far in the negatives I wouldn't be able to redeem myself in three lifetimes!"

"Oh my God, you're so disgustingly moral! Kendra, you're going to have to learn this if you want Slender to even _consider_ letting you go back home. He wasn't kidding when he said outside our clearing of forest, your in danger."

"What am I in danger of, then? Tell me that and I _might_ reconsider."

"I don't know! All Slender will tell me when I ask is that it's none of my business."

"Then I guess I'll just have to face whatever it is without training, now won't I?"

"Damn it, Kendra, you're being ridiculous!"

"And you're being an ass! All you've done since I walked out here is yell at me!"

"All you've done is give me a reason to yell at you!"

Kendra glared harshly at Jeff, crossing her arms. She was leaning all her weight on one leg, trying to show just how displeased she was with how she was being treated.

"You're acting like my feelings don't matter, Jeff," she finally snapped. She turned on her heel and stormed back inside.

After slamming the door behind her, she leaned back. Kendra stared at the ceiling, trying to think through her anger and frustration. Jeff acted like there was no such thing as compromise, that things had to be done _his_ way or some serious shit would hit the fan. With a groan of frustration, Kendra shoved her fingers in her already messy hair.

"Are you okay Kendra?" BEN asked, giving her a childish look of concern.

Kendra tore her gaze from the ceiling and shifted it to the blond in front of her. She didn't answer for a long time, then finally let her arms go limp. Shrugging, she sighed heavily.

"I'm fine, BEN. Thanks for asking."

"Your eyes aren't pretty enough to be fine. C'mon Kendra, tell me what's wrong!"

She giggled at his way of saying she looked down. "It's not important, BEN. Let's go play a video game."

"Yay! What do you want to play? Call of Duty? Halo? Walking Dead?"

"I dunno. You pick."

"Call of duty it is!" BEN shouted in excitement, then grabbed Kendra's wrist and dragged her to the living room.

An hour later, BEN had completely dominated her in every multiplayer mode in Call of Duty: World at War. She dropped her PlayStation controller on her lap in frustration.

"Damn it, BEN! How are you so good at this? I used to annihilate my friends when it came to video games!"

"It's a secret!" he said proudly, beaming.

Kendra pouted. "I need a break and a hobby that I can be better than you at."

"Video games, killing, and being irritatingly stupid are the only things he's good at anyway."

Kendra turned when she heard Jeff, finding him leaning against a wall by the opening that connected the kitchen and living room.

"How long have you been there?" she asked, surprised she hasn't heard or seen him when he came in.

"Long enough."

Kendra rolled her his at his vague answer. "Since you're up and already over there, would you get me a drink of water?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No gonna happen."

"Pretty please?"

"Saying 'pretty' before please is not going to change my mind."

Kendra huffed, standing to do it herself. "Fine, you heartless asshole."

"At least I'm not spineless," he replied, earning a glare.

"I'm not spineless either, you ass."

"Then get your water and get your skinny butt back outside."

Kendra stopped, clenching her fists while she glared at the floor.

 _Damn it, he used my pride against me._

She bypassed her water, stomping out the back door in anger. When Jeff joined her, his smirk infuriated her. To keep herself from doing stupid, she sat on the grass.

"I'm out here, so get it over with."

With a smug grin, he did as she asked.


	8. Chapter 8

The sound of panting and the smell of sweat filled the air. Kendra laid on the ground with her eyes closed. Two weeks of endless training and most of it so far had been hand to hand combat. The amount of bruises she had from Jeff being so rough with her made her skin look almost completely yellow. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked at the aforementioned killer sitting in front of her.

"You know, you being unable to blink is seriously creepy."

"Thank you."

"You look like you're staring at everything you look at."

"I know."

"It's really weird."

"So I'm told."

"None of it bothers you?"

"Nope. Couldn't care less."

"Why?"

"I think I look beautiful. Fuck what everyone else thinks."

"What about the smile? Do you ever get any comments on it?"

"Normally people are too terrified of the knife in my hand to really care what my face looks like. So no, I don't really get any comments."

"Why do you think you look beautiful?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then stop asking about it."

"Fine, sorry."

Kendra fell silent, looking at the sky. It was a beautiful bright blue, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. She couldn't believe days could be this perfect. And she especially couldn't believe she was able to relax so close to the man who had killed her parents a month ago. Not to mention when he stabbed her leg and almost raped her. Kendra looked at Jeff again. She wondered why he never tried anything when they were alone. Sure, Slender told him not to touch her without her permission, but he wasn't here to see him.

Looking back on it now, Kendra realized that Jeff _never_ touched her unless she initiated it or expected it. It shocked her that he would follow the rule so closely when he flat out disobeyed Slender by kid napping her. Kendra was so lost in thought, she didn't notice that she had been staring at Jeff the entire time.

Jeff watched the expressions on Kendra's face change from relaxed, to sadness, to curiosity, and finally to shocked as she stared at him. He figured she was thinking about him, but he thought her rapid facial were too cute for him to interrupt and ask what exactly was on her mind.

Jeff began to consider her training, thinking about how quickly she went from constantly on the ground to actually being able to hold her ground against him. She was a fast learner, he would give her that. He certainly wasn't complaining either. The sooner she could defend herself and kill someone, the sooner she could go home and give Jeff some peace and quiet.

"Jeff?" Kendra asked, her thoughts beginning to fade and leave behind a question.

"What?" he answered, her voice snapping him out of his Kendra-free fantasies.

"You know how Slender told you, you couldn't touch me without my permission?"

"...yeah."

"Well, I was wondering why you follow that rule but kidnapped me even though you weren't allowed."

Kendra watched him in silence, figuring he was thinking about how to answer her question. However, he surprised her by moving to hover his body above hers. Startled, she laid flat on her back and stared at him.

"Why? Are you saying you _want_ me to break that rule?"

Kendra frantically shook her head, not trusting her voice.

"Really?" he asked, lowering himself enough to graze her neck with his lips. Jeff continued this action all the way up to her ear, where he nipped.

He could feel her shudder, making him smirk. "Based on that reaction, I'd have to say you enjoy this more than you let on."

"Jeff-"

Jeff cut her off with a kiss. When she didn't respond, he peppered kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jaw. He nipped at her soft skin, earning a whimper and light pressure on his chest.

"Jeff, stop."

To her surprise, he did. He got off of her, then moved away. Kendra tried to even out her shallow breathing, her thoughts a dizzying jumble in her head. She looked at him, wondering what exactly was going through his mind.


	9. Chapter 9

When they reentered the house, Jeff avoided her for the rest of the day. Every time she tried to talk to him, he either ignored her or gave her a look that very clearly told her to go away. Kendra didn't know what his problem was, but she gave him his space.

However, after another week of getting the cold shoulder, Kendra was pissed. He had no reason to treat her so coldly. If anything, _she_ should be ignoring _him_ , after all he was the one who tried to seduce her after she asked an innocent question.

Fuming, Kendra pounded on Jeff's bedroom door incessantly. She refused to be ignored for no reason any longer. When the door finally opened, she glared furiously at him.

"Jeff, what the fuck is your-" she cut herself off when a brunette she didn't recognize appeared behind him with only a sheet wrapped around her.

"What?" Jeff asked casually, as if he wasn't standing half naked in front of her.

"Who's she?" the brunette asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"No one, Tasha. Get back in the bed, I'll be there in a minute."

Kendra watched the brunette, Tasha, eye her suspiciously before doing what she was told.

"What do you want, Kendra?" Jeff asked, drawing the attention of the shorter girl.

Kendra forgot why she had been so mad, and she had no idea why she felt so hurt now. She shook her head, trying to clear her confusing thoughts.

"Who's that?" Kendra asked, unsure why she cared.

"It's none of your business, Kendra. What was so important that you felt you needed to beat up my door?"

"I was just...I just wanted to know why you've been ignoring me."

She stared at him, feeling betrayed for reasons that were beyond her. She shouldn't care who Jeff was sleeping with. They only knew each other for a month, and half that time they were fighting for Christ's sake! Still, the sadness she felt was overwhelming. She was amazed tears weren't pouring down her face already.

"I got bored of you. If BEN hadn't let you go, you would be dead."

She felt her jaw drop slightly at his answer. She had completely forgotten that he only saw her as a toy, something to entertain him until he got bored and threw it away. Kendra looked away, trying to hide the tears she so desperately wanted to stop.

"I thought we were friends, Jeff."

A snort of laughter made her look at him again, only to be blinded by rage when she saw he was struggling to hold back hysterical laughter. The next thing she knew, her hand was stinging and Jeff was rubbing his cheek and glaring down at her.

"Go to hell, you heartless bastard," she growled. To make sure he knew just hurt and upset she was, she flipped him off. Without giving Jeff a chance to respond to her actions, Kendra walked to her room at the opposite end of the hall.

Kendra slammed the door behind her before sinking to the floor. Bringing her knees to her chest and covering her face with her hands, she began to cry. When there was a knock on her door, she stood slowly. She wiped away her tears, then opened the door. She stared dejectedly at BEN, who was giving her a concerned look.

Instead of asking what was wrong like she expected, he stepped forward and surrounded her in a hug. At the kind gesture, she broke down in tears again. While she sobbed into his shirt, BEN closed the door and brought her to her bed. When they were both comfortable, he began to run his fingers through her hair.

The action soothed her enough that her sobs began to grow quiet. The entire time Kendra cried, BEN comforted her. At one point he actually began to hum video game music. He never once asked her what happened, nor did he complain at her loud blubbering. Eventually, she ended up falling asleep in his arms from sheer exhaustion.

BEN carefully moved her off of his lap, covering her with the blanket before leaving the room. He had heard the entire conversation from this room right next to Jeff's. He knew by now the skank he had been fucking when Kendra interrupted would be dead and gone by now, so he didn't bother knocking when he reached Jeff's room.

"What the hell, BEN? Get out!" Jeff shouted.

BEN ignored him, continuing his stride until he was right in front of Jeff. Before the dick could comprehend what was going on, BEN pulled his arm back and sent it flying. BEN glared as Jeff recovered from his punch, just barely refraining from ripping the bastards head off and hanging it in his room as a trophy.

"Fuck was that for?!" Jeff yelled at him, holding his hand to his cheek.

"For making Kendra cry, you ass! For still thinking of her as a toy after a _month_ of getting to know her. For laughing in her face when she called you a friend. The list goes on and on."

"Fucking hell, BEN, you didn't have to punch me!"

"Yes, I did bastard. You needed to know the pain she felt. Fuck, I should punch you again, or better yet beat your ass into the ground and then some just so you can feel half of what she's feeling right now."

"Why the hell does it matter so much to you?! It's not like she likes you anymore than I like her."

"You're kidding me, right? This a joke? From day one, when all she would do was glare at you, I was nice to her! When she hated you with a vengeance, she told me all about her life before you came in and ruined it."

Silence followed, making BEN scoff in disgust. "You know what? I'm done with your pathetic ass. Be warned, the next time you make her cry, I will _not_ show mercy." With that said, BEN stormed out of Jeff's room.


	10. Chapter 10

For the next several days, the only one who saw Kendra was BEN. She wouldn't answer or let anyone else in. He would bring her what she needed to live so she wouldn't have to face anyone, and comforted her whenever she would start crying.

"Kendra?" Slender called softly, "Kendra, your presence is required in the living room. You can not remain in your room any longer."

It had been five minutes when she finally opened her door. Her appearance was depressing. She had bags under her eyes that his the red puffiness she had earned from crying. Her hair was disheveled and uncared for, and her clothes were extremely wrinkled.

She didn't say anything as she waited for Slender to move. She refused to change, or take care of her hair. She no longer cared what anyone thought. She just wanted to get whatever this was over with so she could take a nap.

When she reached the living room, Slender was gone and she was alone with the _last_ person she wanted to see. Sitting in the middle of the couch, Kendra stared ahead of her without seeing anything. She wished she would drop dead to save her from whatever humiliation was planned for her.

"Kendra?" No answer.

"Damn it, Kendra. I can't apologize if you don't listen to me." More silence.

"Kendra, I'm being serious. I'm sorry for laughing in your face, okay?"

She finally looked at him, but instead of the glare Jeff was used to, all he saw was pain. All of the emotions that normally clouded her gaze were nonexistent. He would be lying if he said he wasn't shocked.

"Holy shit, did it really mess you up that badly?"

She shrugged, not having the energy to fight with him. Kendra leaned back against the couch, staring at her lap and fiddling with her hands.

"Damn, that's pathetic." Jeff didn't really mean it, the silence was just annoying him and he wanted to get a rise out of her. He was surprised again when all she did was shrug.

"Kendra, seriously. Say _something_! Yell at me, call me an asshole. I don't care, just stop acting so...so..."

"Depressed?" she supplied, lifting her gaze again.

"What?"

She sighed, rubbing her hand over her face. "Never mind. Look, Jeff, you don't need to apologize. I get it, you have no positive feelings for me and more than likely never will. So if anyone put you up to this, sorry for the wasted energy."

Jeff watched as she got up to leave, but he quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her. They remained in silence, Jeff having no idea what he was doing or what to say, and Kendra wishing he would let go of her or say something. Finally, Jeff pulled her into his lap, and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I made you feel like this. In all honesty the only reason I said what I did was because I had no idea how to be a friend. I didn't bother with being friends with anyone since I came here, so the thought that you managed to catch me off guard made me panic."

Kendra was stunned into silence. She had no idea what to say to his apology, especially since it sounded sincere. With nothing to say, Kendra returned the hug and her face into his shoulder. She actually began to relax when she breathed in the earthy scent of the forest. She figured everyone here probably smelled like this, but for some strange reason she never noticed it before.

Jeff tightened his hug, enjoying the feel of her body against his and the fuzzy warmth that was spreading in his chest. He had no idea what it was, but the pleasure he felt from it could almost equal the glee he felt when he killed someone. He began to run his fingers through her long hair, occasionally wrapping a curl around his finger tip. It was softer than he imagined, and it smelled like roses.

"I forgive you, Jeff. Thank you for being honest with me."

"You're welcome, little rose."

Kendra giggled at the old nickname. "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

"But your hair reminds me so much of roses. I have to call you that. It even smells like them!"

Kendra started laughing. "Thanks, I guess. Fine, I'll let you call me whatever you want, just don't ignore me anymore. You won't believe how pissed I was that someone I considered a friend wasn't talking to me."

"Considering my door now has problems opening, I can imagine."

She laughed again, finally pulling away from the hug (much to Jeff's displeasure). Smiling up at him, she finally noticed the yellowing bruise on his face.

"What happened?" she asked, confusion and concern lacing her voice as she tenderly touched the mark.

"BEN punched me."

"Why?"

"Because I made you cry."

Kendra stared, then let loose a wide grin. "Remind me to kiss him later."

"What? But he punched me!"

"Because you made me cry! That is the sweetest thing anyone, especially a guy, has ever done for me. I am going to thank him later."

Jeff huffed. "Fine. But I want a kiss too."

"You've gotta earn it, Jeff."

"I apologized!"

"And got one of my amazing hugs! I don't give hugs often, Jeff. Even my best friend had to beg me for a hug."

At the thought of Katie, Kendra frowned. She missed her friend immensely and wished she could see her again. She would have told Jeff off ten times over for hurting Kendra, and then would've given him a noogie for good measure.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

Jeff sighed, pulling her close again so he could bury his face in her sweet smelling hair. Kendra squealed out a laugh, yanking away from him.

"Hey!"

"That tickles!"

"So? Deal with it!"

"Fat chance! I'd rather bathe in chocolate than be tickled. And I hate chocolate."

"There is something seriously wrong with you."

"No there isn't! It's disgusting!"

"Chocolate is heaven on Earth!"

"I call bullshit! If any junk food is heaven on Earth, it's white cheddar popcorn!"

"Fuck that!"

"I never imagined I would be so happy to hear you two bickering," Slender interrupted, popping into the living room and scaring the life out of Kendra.

"Oh my God, Slender, don't do that!"

The man chuckled, and shook his head. "I apologize, Kendra. I suggest you remove yourself before BEN sees, as I do not think he would appreciate seeing his partner in another man's lap."

"Partner?" Jeff asked in confusion while Kendra got off of his lap.

"BEN and I may or may not be dating now."

" _What?!_ "

"Jeffrey, please calm your voice."

"When did that happen?"

"Yesterday when I was throwing a fit."

"How does Slender know?"

"I don't know! He's Slender!"

"I am. I know because I do still have the ability to read minds. I just chose not to comment on most of the thoughts I hear."

"Well, there you have it," Kendra said, crossing her arms.

"Wait, _how_ did this happen?"

Kendra paused, thinking back to the event.

 _Kendra sobbed into her pillow while BEN rubbed her back comfortingly. When she was able to wipe away tears that weren't quickly replaced, she turned on her side and stared at the blond._

 _"Why are you helping me?"_

 _"Because you need it."_

 _"So? I needed to go home and no one let me."_

 _"Look, Kendra, I'm helping because you're my friend, alright?"_

 _She went quiet, looking at her mattress. After a long moment of silence, she felt BEN pulling her up and into his lap. What she didn't expect was a soft pair of lips on hers. BEN kissed her so sweetly, she couldn't help but react and kiss back._

 _A moment later, they were staring at each other._

 _"Kendra, just because Jeff is a total dick and thinks you're nothing but a toy, doesn't mean I do, alright?"_

 _Kendra nodded. "Alright. Why did you kiss me?"_

 _BEN gave a sheepish grin. "I wanted you to stop looking so sad and dejected. Plus I've been wanting to for a while now."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Can we not go through this and just be dating now?"_

 _Kendra couldn't hold back her smile of amusement, weak as it was. Nodding, she leaned against his chest and relaxed._

"It just kind of happened."

"You really don't expect me to believe that."

"Believe or not, I don't care. That is the only way I can really describe it."

"Bullshit."

"Why does it matter? I mean really Jeff, I can handle my love life. It's none of your business if I date BEN, just like it's none of my business if you date that Tasha chick."

"I wasn't-"

"Stop right there. I don't need, nor do I care, to know. Just leave it be, alright? I don't want to get in another fight so soon after you apologized."

Jeff sighed, not sure why her dating BEN bothered him so much. It really _wasn't_ any of his business. But the new information gave him a foreign feeling that made him want to hunt BEN down and rip him to shreds.

"Fine," he relented.

Kendra smiled at him, and relaxed. "Good boy," she teased, patting him on the shoulder. She earned a glare that she responded to by sticking her tongue out at him.


	11. Chapter 11

Not only is BEN a total sweetheart, but he's a gentleman and a total romantic. He would call Kendra a different pet name almost every day ranging anywhere from Zelda (which she didn't know how to react to), to sweetheart. If Kendra remembered right, she was pretty sure he called her his warrior princess at one point.

Now that Kendra had agreed to be his girlfriend, BEN hardly ever let go of her hand unless it meant cuddling. Honestly Kendra loved the attention. She had never had an actual boyfriend before, and the experience was thrilling. Sure, she had gone on a couple of dates, but they were mostly group ventures with a guy she had no interest in and no heart to turn him down.

Kendra learned a week after they started dating that BEN could actually make his eyes look normal if he wanted to. Because of this, he was the one who went out to buy the necessities everyone living in the house needed. She now knew how clothes that fit her were in her closet and dresser, though she refused to think about the underwear.

When Kendra first saw his normal eyes, she couldn't stop staring. They were so vibrant and filled with blue, she couldn't use any one word to describe them. The best she could do if she tried was _beautiful_. Of course she didn't feel like the word did them justice. BEN had ended up getting uncomfortable, rambling about things Kendra didn't hear. When he changed them back, she frowned and demanded to his amazing eyes again. He complied, blushing deeply.

Kendra had taken his face in her hands, and kissed him. When she saw his face again, she started giggling uncontrollably at how red it was. He punched her shoulder playfully, making her giggles worse. After that, they would sneak into each others room every night just so she could stare at his eyes while they talked.

As their relationship progressed, Jeff started snapping and glaring at BEN more than what was normal for him. Though when Kendra got involved to stick up for her adorable blond, he went quiet and reluctantly apologized. She thought he was just grumpy, but was proven wrong when they were alone in the living room enjoying the quiet. Slender was somewhere currently unknown, BEN went out shopping, and the freaky clown Kendra avoided at all costs was nowhere to be seen. She didn't know any of the others who stayed in Slender Mansion, but at that moment she didn't care.

When Jeff sat next to her, Kendra gave him a smile. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing. Which is beyond bizarre for this house."

"No kidding. I'm enjoying it while I can, who knows when this will happen again?"

"Probably never," they said simultaneously, making Kendra start laughing. She was surprised when she heard Jeff join her, but she didn't comment.

"I love it when that happens," Kendra said, her laughter taming to the occasional giggle.

Before Jeff could say anything, his expression turned sour at something behind her. Kendra turned, and grinned widely when she saw BEN.

"Benny bunny!" she shouted, moving to stand up and hug him.

He laughed and hugged her back. "Hey, sweetheart. I got you something at the store, I can't wait to show you!"

"What is it?!" she asked excitedly, matching his childish tone.

"Not yet! You gotta wait until later!"

"But BEN," she whined, stretching out his name.

"No but's! Gotta wait, honey bee."

"Ugh, this is going to be _torture_."

"Watching this _is_ torture. I need to gouge my eyes out and shove them in the garbage disposal."

"Oh gross, Jeff! That is not an image I want, damn it!"

"Ha! That's too bad then."

"Asshole."

"I know."

"Hey! What about me? I got you a gift, I deserve your attention!"


	12. Chapter 12

It turned out when BEN said later, he meant a month later. Kendra had completely forgotten about the gift when he suddenly shoved a brightly wrapped box in her face. Blinking in surprise, Kendra looked up from her art pad and stared at the present.

"BEN, what-?"

"Open it!"

She looked at the colorful box for a long moment, then hesitantly grabbed it after putting her charcoal pencil down. With another glance at a grinning BEN, she began to slowly unwrap the brightly colored box. When it was completely void of paper, she quickly realized that it was going to be a piece of jewelry. She opened the dark velvet blue box, and sucked in a breath of admiration.

What she saw was a beautiful green pendant on a silver chain. She stared at it in awe, gently picking it up and setting the box down. Kendra looked up at BEN in astonishment, wondering what had made him think to buy her such a beautiful necklace. He swirled his finger once, motioning for her to turn the teardrop shaped rock that hung from the heavy chain. She did, reading the message engraved on the silver several times.

 _You are the Zelda to my Link. Forever and always, Ben._

"BEN this is so sweet, and so beautiful. You didn't have to get me this."

"I got it for you last month, remember? I wanted to wait until we'd been dating for at least a month so it wouldn't be too soon for you or anything. Do you want me to put it on you?"

"Yes, please. That would be wonderful."

As BEN was clasping the necklace into place, Jeff entered the sunroom to see Kendra holding her red hair to the side. She smiled softly at him, fingering the gem around her neck. When BEN finished, Kendra fixed her hair then continued to admire the necklace.

She was so distracted, she didn't notice the glare he shot at BEN. She didn't pay attention to anything until the piece of jewelry was harshly yanked off of her neck. Kendra gasped, her neck stinging in pain as she looked up. She glared when she saw Jeff clutching her necklace in his fist.

"What the _hell_ , Jeff!? That was probably expensive!" she shouted in anger, reaching for the broken jewelry.

Jeff pulled his hand away from hers, glaring at the engraving furiously. The next thing he knew, he threw it in the lit fireplace across the room.

"No!" Kendra shrieked, lunging after it only to be stopped by Jeff.

"Let me go, you ass! I have to get it out before it's ruined!" She screamed at him, struggling in his iron grip.

Jeff obliged and dropped her, ignoring her angry glare.

"What the _fuck_ made you decide to ruin the sweetest thing I have ever been given?"

Jeff shrugged. "It looked ugly," he lied smoothly, but ended up having to stumble back when BEN lunged at him with clear murderous intent.

" _ENOUGH_!" boomed a voice so full of anger, everyone froze. Slenderman appeared, the fury he was feeling rolling off in waves.

"Jeffrey! Benjamin! Both of you are to leave until I can think of a proper consequence to suit your actions. Do _not_ leave your rooms until then, do you understand?"

Neither answered, but both left grudgingly. They glared at each other as they walked, Kendra watching them until she could no longer see them. After staring a moment longer, she looked at a seething Slenderman.

"Do you have any idea what Jeff's problem is?" she asked softly, careful not to anger him further.

"Jealousy. He is being a pathetic child, because of jealousy."

Kendra frowned, confusion etched into her face. "Why would he be jealous?"

Slender looked at her, his anger calming a fraction. "That, I do not know. He could either still view you as his, or he could have grown actual feelings for you. Either way, his actions are pathetic and need to stop."

"Then why is BEN getting in trouble?"

"He is viewing violence as the only answer to his situation, and while normally I wouldn't care, the yelling is getting on my nerves and I don't want anything broken."

She nodded, then remembered the necklace Jeff threw in the fire. She looked at the flames hopelessly, knowing there would be no way of retrieving it since the fire never died. She deflated, looking at the floor now.

"I apologize for the necklace. If you would like, I could make Jeff's punishment be to do your bidding for a period of time."

Slender's suggestion actually brought a smile to her face. "That sounds really tempting, actually."

"Then I'll keep it in mind."

After a moment of silence, Kendra was surrounded by long arms. She looked at Slender in surprise from the sudden awkward hug. She smiled and gave him a small hug of her own.


	13. Chapter 13

Kendra slid into her usual seat at the kitchen table, biting her lip in thought while she watched Slender make lunch. She wanted to phrase her question in a way that didn't seem totally creepy, though she doubted the tall monster would care about her choice of words given the situation. Still, that didn't stop her from caring about how her inquiries sounded.

"Kendra, you've been staring at me for ten minutes now, is there something you wish to speak to me about?" Slender asked, pulling her out of her reverie.

Kendra gave a nervous chuckle and nodded. "Well, yeah actually. I was wondering how long you would have Jeff be my servant for?" she asked, deciding to throw all embarrassment out the window and just ask what she wanted to know.

Slender chuckled, wiping his hands off on the apron wrapped around him before turning to fully face her and lean against the counter in thought. "I suppose perhaps a month would be suitable, what do you think?"

Kendra's eyes widened at the lengthy time period. "Isn't that a bit extensive?" she asked, not wanting Jeff to get into more of a punishment than he deserved.

"Wasn't him throwing that necklace BEN got you into the fire a bit extensive?"

"Okay, I see your point. Then what would BEN's punishment be?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

"Ah, I'm afraid you won't like that one much as I've already put it into effect. He is to live in a cabin about a mile from here for the same length of time that Jeffrey is to remain under your command."

Kendra frowned at that, looking down at the table with a slight pang of disappointment worming its way into her heart. She wouldn't get to see her boyfriend for an entire month? She guessed it couldn't be helped since BEN had been ready to kill Jeff which _was_ pretty drastic considering.

Kendra sighed, resting her forehead on the cool wood of the table, trying to think. She didn't want to be stuck in the mansion for the entire month, she's already been here without contact with the rest of the world for several and she didn't know how much longer she could last without a little bit of adventure away from the home.

"Slender can I leave the mansion?"

Slender stopped what he had been doing at the question, turning towards Kendra with an air of concern and curiosity.

"You know very well that I can't allow that, Kendra," he answered, watching as she picked up her head.

"Well yeah, but if Jeff is going to be with me wouldn't he be able to protect me? I mean, he'd even be able to make sure that I come back."

Slender paused, giving her reasoning thought as he considered what she wanted. A few minutes passed before he gave a relenting sigh.

"Alright, I'll allow it. However you are not to make contact with anyone from your past, I do not want to risk you fighting to leave here or trying to bring someone unwelcome."

Kendra beamed, her mood lifting almost instantly. On the downside she couldn't see her friends, but she got to _leave._

"Thank you Slendy!" she shouted gleefully, hopping up from her seat to wrap the man in a tight hug before running back to her room so she could begin packing.

A few hours later, Kendra and Jeff were walking through the forest, Jeff in a better mood than he's been since Kendra started dating BEN. Kendra, however; could feel better.

"Jeff how much longer?" she whined, the duffel bag she was carrying starting to make her shoulder ache.

"We won't be in the city until tomorrow afternoon," Jeff said, smirking slightly in amusement when the girl groaned in response.

"Oh my god, we better not end up walking all night," Kendra complained, wiping away the sweat beading on her forehead.

"Awww, afraid you'll wilt in the moonlight, little rose?" he teased, laughing delightedly at the glare he got in return.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that," she snapped, crossing her arms in a pout. Of course she regretted the action almost instantly when the duffel bag slipped off her shoulders and slid painfully into the crook of her elbow. Kendra hissed in pain, forcing the duffel bag back onto her shoulder and looking at her arm to see a bright red stripe.

"Great," she grumbled, rubbing the spot gingerly in hopes that her cold hands would ease the sting.

Jeff glanced over at her, amused by her clumsiness and enjoying her adorable scowl. He didn't know what was wrong with him, or with Kendra for that matter, but lately he's been finding everything she does adorable. On some level it aggravated him, but at the present moment, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Stupid bag," Kendra grumbled, pausing when she realized something. "Wait, where are we sleeping? Cause I am not walking all night and I can't sleep on the ground very well."

Jeff rolled his eyes, patting the tent he was carrying. "Pay attention, little rose. I don't sleep but I'm very well aware that you do."

"Wait, you don't sleep?" Kendra asked, shocked.

"Not often, no. It's too much of a pain to," he answered with a shrug, pausing to look around. It was starting to grow dark and neither of them had night vision so he needed to pitch the tent now if Kendra was going to get some rest.

"Alright, we'll stop here for the night, you rest, I'll set up the tent for you."

Kendra groaned in relief, letting go of the bag and dropped to the ground. She laid on her back, closing her eyes in hopes of easing the headache that had grown once the excitement of leaving the trip for a month wore off.

By the time Jeff had finished, Kendra was asleep. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Can't sleep on the ground my ass," he said to himself, picking the redhead up easily and carefully navigating her into the tent. As soon as he pulled the blanket over her body, Jeff left the tent to keep watch over the night.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning, Kendra woke up with a start to see Jeff's wide, unblinking eyes staring down at her. With a startled shriek she bolted into a sitting position and clambered back until the wall of the tent started to curve under her.

"Jeff, what the fuck?!" she shouted, regaining her senses but her heart still racing.

He didn't answer, instead sitting on his heels as he watched and putting Kendra's nerves on edge. She glanced around, noting that it was barely light enough to see outside. Now irritated, she moved to a more comfortable position in order to avoid ruining the tent.

"Jeff why are you staring at me? It's starting to creep me out."

Jeff couldn't help but chuckle in amusement, sliding closer to the redhead and gently stroked her cheek in a soft caress. Kendra stiffened, staring right back at him in curiosity and suspicion.

"What are you doing?" she asked after several more minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"Just let me enjoy this, Kendra. I won't touch you ever again if you just...let me enjoy," Jeff breathed, his face drawing closer to hers. Kendra bit her lip, glancing away when his forehead rested against hers in an oddly intimate fashion.

"Alright," she responded softly, looking at her lap until his fingers under her chin drew her eyes to his face once more. She hadn't expected to feel his lips on hers, nor had she expected how gentle he was being. Without thinking, she reacted. Jeff's arms were around her and she clutched at his hoodie, keeping him close.

Jeff nearly groaned, he hadn't expected kissing her would feel this good. He certainly didn't expect her to respond but she _did_ and it felt amazing. Moving his hands from the floor of the tent to grip her hips, he pushed forward until she was laying underneath him again. He couldn't think clearly with Kendra so close, he _had_ to have more, he had to have _her._

His lips left hers, leaving Kendra breathless. She thought it was over until she felt him nipping at her jaw, the tiny sting of pain sending a thrill through her that she hadn't expected. A gasp escaped her and this only encouraged Jeff to continue further. He trailed his lips down her jaw so could start leaving kisses on her neck. The first time he had done this, he'd been teasing. He didn't mean anything behind the actions, but now? Now he put just little more force, just a little more feeling into every kiss he gave.

It was then she pushed him away. Jeff almost didn't let her before he remembered who it was beneath him. This wasn't some whore he'd brought home to fuck a few times before he killed her, this was Kendra. This was someone he cared about. He got off of her reluctantly, trying to hide the desire and want he was feeling. He wanted so much more, but he wasn't going to force her.

"Jeff, you need to explain what the fuck you were thinking right now before I slap you," Kendra said, her voice quiet, her tone soft, but Jeff could see the anger in her eyes.

A sigh escaped him before he answered. "I wasn't thinking," he answered simply, bracing himself for the hit.

It didn't come. He watched her, but she made no move to hit, or even yell at him, which was totally unlike her.

"Kendra?" he asked, beginning to worry that he had bitten too hard on her neck and hurt her when he saw tears form.

"Get out Jeff," was her only response, and Jeff hesitated before nodding and exiting the tent.

Kendra had no idea what to feel. On one hand, she adored BEN, and she would do anything for the goofball, but every advance he's made towards her was so… _innocent._ On the other, Jeff's touches, his kisses, had made her head spin, her heart race, and her spine tingle. Suffice it to say, it was amazing. But she was dating BEN. BEN was her _boyfriend,_ and she had betrayed him by letting Jeff go as far as he did.

Kendra brought her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and continued to cry. What had she been thinking? She hadn't been, just like Jeff hadn't been. She loved BEN, or at least she thought she did, but Jeff was her friend, and an amazing kisser. God, how was she going to tell BEN? Should she even tell BEN? Before she could go more into her hopeless thoughts, Jeff called to her from outside the tent.

"Kendra we need to leave now if we're going to make it to town this afternoon."

She sighed, forcing herself to get up and leave the tent so Jeff could take it down and pack it back up. Kendra didn't look at him, wouldn't talk to him, hell she wouldn't even acknowledge him. She needed to think without distractions, and she knew if she let him, he would get her to forget that what had happened in the tent had never occurred.

Jeff felt awful. He shouldn't have kissed her, she was dating BEN for fucks sake. But he hadn't been thinking. She looked so peaceful while she was asleep. Her lips, parted slightly, looked so _inviting_ to him that it was a miracle he kept himself from touching her before she woke up. He was so intent on enjoying being alone with her, and when she said he could enjoy that quiet little moment where the rest of the world didn't exist, he reacted without thinking.

He didn't regret kissing her. He had loved every second his lips had been on hers. She tasted wonderful too. He licked his lips at the thought, having to hold himself back from holding her against a tree so he could get another taste. Suddenly he was imagining doing just that, but the image showed him holding her wrists, pinning her arms above her head. He saw her flushed face and her lower lip pulled between her teeth. Fuck, did she even know what that did to him?

"Jeff, whatever you're thinking about right now, I suggest you stop before you make things worse for yourself," Kendra's irritated voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked at her. He noticed the irritation in her face and her actions showed just how uncomfortable she was as she seemed to try and keep her eyes off of his legs but they kept darting back.

Jeff paused, his face heating up when he realized just what his previous train of thought caused. In an attempt to hide his embarrassment, he pulled off his hoodie and wrapped it around his waist. Kendra looked away, the black t-shirt he wore too tight for her to feel comfortable and waited for him to start walking again. This was going to be a long trip.


	15. Chapter 15

Jeff fucked up. They'd been walking for three hours before he realized he had no idea where they were. Kendra had been distracting him by simply being there and he couldn't get his mind off of the kiss that morning. He looked around for a familiar landmark but found none, which aggravated him.

"Jeff, it's almost noon, are we almost there?" Kendra asked, making Jeff stop to look at her. Shit, what was he going to tell her? That he had gotten them lost and it was very unlikely he'd be able to get them back on track until half the month was over?

"Jeff?" Kendra was now in front of him, frowning in concern at her friend's silence. Was something wrong?

"Hey, are you okay? You're not giving me the silent treatment are you?" she asked, crossing her arms and shifting her weight from foot to foot restlessly.

"Oh uh, no sorry. I was just realizing that I have no idea where we are."

"...what?"

Jeff gave her a sheepish smile, seeing her irritation rise with every second that passed by.

"Are you telling me we're lost?" she asked, her voice unusually calm. It set Jeff's nerves on edge but he nodded, figuring silence would only piss her off more.

"Unbelievable," she grumbled, all traces of her past concern now replaced with an aggravated glare, "I can't believe you got us lost. I thought you knew the way to town!"

"I did! I just...got distracted and forgot to pay attention."

"Oh, you can't be serious. We'd been walking in silence for _hours,_ what could have possibly distracted you?" she snapped, her mean look starting to get more malicious the longer they talked.

"Um…"

"Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know." She walked off, sitting under a tree with a huff and making it obvious that Jeff would not enjoy bothering her.

He sighed, deciding to go look for a source of fresh water since they were going to be here for a while. The walk gave him time to think, though this time he was sure to pay attention to his surroundings. He thought about how badly he screwed up not once, but twice in the same day. Would he never learn how social cues worked?

Kendra pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she glared at the sky. Lost. The word rang through her head, and she was glad Jeff left to do who knows what so she wouldn't scream and throw the largest rock she could find at his head. How could he have been so stupid? He kissed her this morning and put her emotions in a storm, and then he gets her _lost?!_ She almost did scream out her frustration, but she didn't want Jeff to come back thinking she had been hurt, she wasn't ready to see him again.

Her feet ached, so she slid her shoes off and began to rub them in hopes it would ease the pain. She started to think about all of the plans she had made for when they got to town, bitter that now it would take much longer for her to enjoy herself. Kendra had planned to go shopping, to visit one of her favorite cafes (they had killer lemon bars) and just do whatever suited her over the course of the month, but now she was stuck in the forest with Jeff; who had made it quite obvious that he couldn't control himself around her.

Eventually she slipped her shoes back on and Jeff returned, glancing around as if he were trying to memorize the area.

"I found a small lake with fresh water, there's plenty of edible plants there too so we're gonna set up camp there and tomorrow I'm going to start looking for the way to town again. Come on," he explained, waiting for Kendra to get up and follow him.

Kendra followed him wordlessly, her arms crossed as she walked. She wasn't going to talk to him for quite some time so she could calm down and get over his stupid mistake. She was one who believed in forgive and forget, but it always took her a while before she got there. It wasn't long before they got to the place Jeff had picked out and Kendra immediately set to work setting up the tent while Jeff started to build a fire pit.

As soon as Kendra was done, she crawled into the tent and zipped up the door. Jeff sighed, knowing it would be awhile before she would talk to him again. He began to build a fire, glad he had packed up camping supplies in case Kendra had decided to just camp in the woods. He pulled out some fire starter and a lighter, setting the wood he had gathered over the starter in a way to make sure it would light. As soon as the fire was a decent size, he sat on the ground and leaned back on his hands. He could only hope Kendra would forgive him soon, he couldn't stand the silent treatment she was giving him. Hell, he would much rather bicker with her the way they would when she first showed up almost a year ago.

He smiled at the memories, snickering when he remembered her fear of LJ. The guy didn't even look that much like a clown and yet she was terrified of him. Shaking his head, Jeff laid back on the grass and stared up at the sky to watch the shifting colors as the sun set. The beautiful reds and pinks reminded him of Kendra's rose colored hair and her adorable blush. He sighed, thinking that maybe he was getting too attached to his friend.


	16. Chapter 16

It's been a week and they were still hopelessly lost. Kendra poked at the fire, her stomach growling while she waited for the water to boil. She was so thirsty, but she needed to sanitize the water before she could drink any of it. Sighing, she leaned back on her hands, staring at the starry sky. The sun had set about an hour ago and Jeff still wasn't back from his trek to find where they were. She was starting to get worried about him, even as she told herself that he could take care of himself.

An unexpected growling noise rang through the clearing, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Kendra straightened, looking into the forest where the sound had come from to see if she could find Jeff. It had to be him pranking her or something.

"Jeff? This isn't funny, I'm still mad at you," she called out, hoping he would stop being an ass.

Another growl, only this time it was louder and sounded almost like a chuckle. Kendra swallowed, getting up and grabbing the flashlight she used when she couldn't find any firewood and a sharpened stick before slowly walking towards the treeline. Turning on the flashlight she shined it towards the trees.

"I swear to God Jeff, if you're pranking me I will not hesitate to stab you where the sun doesn't shine," she threatened, raising her stick to make her point.

This time she was answered with silence, setting her nerves more on edge when a dark form started to take shape in the shadows. Kendra didn't relax, because it was much too tall and skinny to be Jeff or any other human being. She screamed and ran the opposite direction, ducking into the woods when she heard pursuit. Panic coursed through her as she ran, and she silently begged for Jeff to come find her before it was too late.

Kendra looked back to see if whatever was chasing her was still there and she nearly tripped as a result. It was much closer than she had thought, and in a panic she turned abruptly, using her weight and momentum to swing around a tree and run in a different direction without the monster seeing her. Seeing a low hanging branch ahead, she jumped and reached for it in hopes of climbing the tree. Hauling herself up, Kendra began to climb until she was hidden almost completely by the leaves.

She watched the ground, breathing heavily as she waited to see if she had truly lost the monster that had been chasing her. Her heart rate spiked when she heard it walking below her, and she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming at what she saw.

It walked on all fours, it's head raised as if smelling the air. Kendra held back a sob, watching as the humanoid figure slowly sniffed her out. She didn't want to die, not like this. It looked up abruptly, and Kendra realized she had accidentally shaken the branch she was holding onto for balance. She froze, watching in horror as it started to climb the tree by digging it's claws in into the bark. She was done for.

"Hey!" a familiar voice shouted and Kendra almost sobbed in relief, "Rake knock it off! She's under Slender's protection!"

The creature stayed where it was for a moment, staring in Kendra's direction before it climbed off of the tree and skittered away. Kendra almost fell out of the tree in relief, tears already spilling over her face. She slowly climbed down, her knees giving out when her feet touched the ground. Jeff caught her, holding her tight.

He started to run his fingers through her hair when he felt her begin to shake, trying his best to comfort her. She must have been terrified, and he couldn't blame her. The Rake was a terrifying creature. Jeff sighed, whispering comforting words to her in hopes to calm her down enough to try and find a safe place to rest for the night. In his panic to find her, he had lost where the campsite was.

Kendra sat curled up against a tree, watching as Jeff attempted to make a sort of bed for her in the dark. She was too busy trying to stop shaking to help, and she could barely see herself. Jeff huffed in irritation, finally just clearing off a patch of grass so she could lay in it comfortably. He took off his hoodie and gave it to her to use as a pillow.

He watched as she got comfortable and finally drift to sleep, sighing as he sat next to her. He would never forgive himself for leaving her alone and _letting_ her be vulnerable to get attacked. Jeff couldn't believe his idiocy, and he had to refrain from hitting the ground and waking Kendra up. She needed her sleep after getting chased by the Rake.

A moment later and he slipped into his habit of watching her sleep. He didn't know why he did, but seeing her soft features while she was unconscious relaxed him. He sighed, brushing a lock of hair from her face gently. He felt an ache in his chest as he watched, and he couldn't help but think about how much cared for his friend. _Friend…_ So strange how he felt like that wasn't the right word he wanted to use, but that was what she was. His friend. He started petting her hair, admiring how soft it was despite being subject to the dirt of the ground.

No matter how much he tried to tell her she didn't have to bathe she insisted on it anyway. She'd make him turn around if he was still there when she woke up in the morning, but he always managed to sneak a look to admire her naked skin. He sighed, closing his eyes and pulled the image up.

 _Jeff watched as her hands rubbed her skin, getting it wet before lathering it in soap. She had her back to him, so he gladly admired the curve of her ass. He couldn't help but want to reach out and give it a rough squeeze but he restrained himself for her sake. She turned to see him watching her, but to his surprise she only smirked and left the water._

" _Like what you see?" she teased, not bothering to cover herself up like she normally would. Jeff didn't answer, too distracted with holding himself back from touching her everywhere. He wanted to push her back into the tent and enjoy the feel of every inch of her skin._

 _She climbed into his lap, and he inhaled sharply. Kendra was definitely not making things easy on him._

" _Aww, poor Jeff. Do you want to touch me?" she purred, pressing her naked chest against his and bringing his attention to it._

" _God, yes," he croaked, his voice hoarse from restraint._

" _Well then, since you're being_ such _a good boy, I'll let you pick one spot on my body to touch."_

 _Jeff groaned, pushing her back and locking his lips with hers._

His eyes flew open as soon as he realized what he was doing. He shouldn't let himself imagine her like that, no matter how much he wanted to. Jeff glanced over at her, relieved to find she was still fast asleep. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take care of the problem his little fantasy had caused?


	17. Chapter 17

They were back on speaking terms it seemed. Jeff grinned as Kendra rolled her eyes at one of his stupid jokes, and he couldn't resist laughing when she punched his shoulder. They were out looking for the campsite, hoping to find it so Kendra could get something to eat.

"Oh my God, Jeff, stop or I'll hit you again," she said, crossing her arms.

"Nah, I know you're all _bark_ and no bite," he teased, grinning.

"When will you _leaf_ me alone?" she retaliated, making Jeff laugh triumphantly.

"When you _branch_ out your humor, then I'll think about it."

Kendra groaned, hitting her palm to her forehead before laughing reluctantly.

"That was terrible."

"You're just jealous you didn't come up with it."

"You're terrible."

"I know."

Kendra rolled her eyes, a smile on her face as they walked. They fell into a comfortable silence, Kendra enjoying the sounds of nature in the quiet between them. She was trying to recognize the surroundings, but she had been so scared last night and it was so dark that she didn't recognize anything. She was mostly keeping an eye out for the flashlight she had dropped when she pivoted around a tree.

She sighed, starting to twirl her fingers in her hair as she did when she was thinking before she noticed how sticky and crusty it felt, as if she had dipped it in syrup. Stopping she picked up the lock and examined it in confusion. She clearly didn't have syrup recently, so why was it so sticky?

"Kendra?" Jeff asked, stopping a couple feet in front of her and looking back at her in concern. Then he noticed what she was looking at and he had to look away to avoid letting her see is red face. He hadn't been as careful as he thought last night apparently. He waited for her to ask the question, or worse figure it out on her own. She was smart enough, he didn't doubt that she would.

"Jeff did I eat anything sticky recently?" she asked, and Jeff nearly balked. No, but he would be lying if he said he didn't wish she had. He needed to calm himself down before the fantasy of her mouth wrapped around him got out of control.

"Jeff? Hello, Earth to Jeff? Dude what's wrong with you?" Kendra asked, poking Jeff in the shoulder to get his attention.

"Uh, sorry. No I don't think you did? Maybe you got some berry juice in your hair the other day?" he offered the solution to her, hoping she would believe him and drop it.

"Huh, yeah maybe," she said, dropping the question much to his relief. They continued walking, Jeff struggling to keep control of himself. God, why the hell did he lose his cool around her? It was like she had some type of spell over him that made him stumble over himself just to worship the ground she walked on.

"Found it!" Kendra shouted gleefully, making Jeff lose his train of thought.

"The campsite?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"No! The flashlight, we should be close to the campsite now!" she said, her excitement making Jeff smile. She was so cute when she was excited.

He watched as she bounded through the forest in the direction she thought the campsite was. Jeff followed after her, lost in thought. He was beginning to think that maybe simple friendship wasn't what he wanted from her. He frowned, not used to the feelings she gave him. He knew it wasn't love, he couldn't feel that as far as he knew, but his feelings were far from platonic. He'd have to talk to someone about it, probably Slender or EJ since they were the only two he really trusted not to tell everyone about this.

Kendra stopped suddenly, looking in a different direction of the forest. She could have sworn she saw something. With a frown, she changed direction and started looking for what she had seen. It had looked like someone had been following, and she shuddered to think it had been the _thing_ from last night.

Jeff stopped when he realized Kendra was no longer in front of him and he cursed. Looking around around he spotted her walking in a different direction of the woods. He followed her, relieved she hadn't gotten hurt. When he caught up, he realized she seemed to be concentrating on looking for something, which confused him.

"Hey, what are you looking for?" he asked, holding back a smile when she jumped.

"Oh! Um… nothing. I just thought I saw something is all," she answered with sheepish laugh before glancing back to where she had been staring.

Jeff nodded, not liking the look on her face or the sudden chill he got so he gently grabbed her arm and brought her back to the path they had been on. He wasn't about to let her out of his sight, not when he felt eyes on him, and _especially_ not after last night.


	18. Chapter 18

Kendra couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. They had found the campsite, but she couldn't relax. Even when she was hidden in the tent with Jeff coming back before sunset, she still felt unsettled. During the day when she was alone the feeling of eyes on her grew to the point of being unbearable. Eventually she would start waiting until she knew for sure Jeff was gone before going out to explore the area and try to find what the hell was watching her.

Currently she was trying to figure out what she had seen about a week and a half ago. It seemed small, but she knew that once the actual event passed her memory wouldn't be very reliable. She was already trying to fill in the blanks. It had been fast, inhumanly fast, so she doubted it could've been that big, but the thing that had chased her basically made her scrap that idea.

She knew it was called the Rake, she just had a hard time calling it by any kind of name, it had been that freakish to her. A shudder interrupted her thoughts and she looked around frantically. Whatever had been stalking her was close now, she just couldn't find it and it scared her. Taking a deep breath, she started to listen to her surroundings, trying to pick up something that didn't belong in the environment.

A moment later, Kendra spotted a flash of red to her left and she turned rapidly to see a Husky staring at her. It's colors were all wrong though, with the majority of its fur being a vibrant red. She tilted her head, resisting a smile when the dog copied the action, and examined the strip of black fur along the spine of the dog, taking a moment before she realized that it seemed to be an actual type of mane for the dog, as if it was growing hair.

Kendra crouched slowly, paying close attention to the dog to watch for threatening signs. The dog flicked it's ears forward, watching her actions with interest. When she was on her knees and stretching her hand out, palm up, the fog walked forward. He sniffed her hand, licking it a few times before he nudged it as a sign of wanting pets.

The redhead giggled, scratching the dog behind its ears affectionately. "So cute, oh goodness," she said, nuzzling the dog's neck. After a few minutes, Kendra switched to sitting cross-legged on the ground while she played with the dog, talking to him with a high pitched voice and attacking his stomach with affectionate scratch's. The dog was wagging his tail vehemently, barking a few times whenever she would stop talking.

"Oh my gosh, you are precious and I love you," she said, laughing when the dog stood and licked her cheek. Kendra beamed, scratching his ears again.

"I see you've met Smile," said a voice behind her and Kendra jumped, turning to see Jeff.

She didn't respond at first, watching as the dog rushed over to Jeff with all the excitement of a child on Christmas.

"You named him Smile?" she asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow as she shifted her seated position to face her friend.

Jeff nodded, crouching to give his dog so attention.

"Yeah, when I found him he was in really bad shape and he snarled a lot, made it look like he was smiling all the time so that's what I named him. Now he prefers to look like this, but sometimes he'll go back to how he was when we first met and go out to help me on assignments."

Kendra listened, her heart aching for the poor pup in front of her. She remained silent, getting lost in her thoughts while Jeff loved on Smile with a grin on his face. It seemed like Jeff and really anyone else at Slender Mansion had a troubled past and as a result they were all family. They were a family she didn't belong in. The only reason she was even alive was because Slender had decided to use her as a punishment for Jeff disobeying him. Literally the only reason she was even living with everyone was because Jeff had killed her parents and kidnapped her.

"Woah, hey, what's wrong?" Jeff asked, suddenly in front of her and holding her face. He was wiping away tears she hadn't realized she'd been crying.

"I'm fine, just… I'm fine, sorry."

Jeff frowned when she brushed his hands off of her face, knowing very well that she was _not_ fine. Kendra didn't cry often, not since they made up nearly three months ago. He brought her into a hug, Smile nudging himself between them so he could settle in her lip. This pulled a laugh out of her and she wrapped her arms around Jeff to return his hug.

"Whatever is bothering you Kendra, I'm here to listen. I may be relatively new to this whole compassion thing, but that doesn't mean I can't be here for you. Please tell me what's wrong?" he asked again, pulling back but keeping his hands on her shoulders.

"I-I…" Kendra hesitated, biting her lip before sighing, "I was just thinking about how I don't really belong anywhere anymore. You and the others at the mansion are a family, and I'm literally just a punishment for you-"

Before she could finish Jeff pushed his lips to hers, effectively silencing her. She didn't react, and he broke the kiss a few seconds later, afraid of making her mad at him again.

"You _are_ a part of this family, Kendra. You stopped being a punishment as soon as we became friends. You stopped being an outsider when you started dating BEN," he said softly, resting his forehead against hers.

Smile growling at something behind Jeff made him turn to see a furious BEN standing there. He radiated anger, his fists clenched and his body tense. Getting up, Jeff got in a defensive position in front of Kendra. He watched the elf wearily, grabbing his knife out of his hoodie pocket.

"You just kissed my girlfriend," BEN snarled, flexing his fingers, " _you shouldn't have done that."_


	19. Chapter 19

The fight was over before it even started. BEN had swung a fist toward Jeff, who then dodged, grabbed the blond's arm, and yanked him forward to press his knife against BEN's neck. Kendra gasped, scrambling to get up to try and pull Jeff off of her boyfriend.

"Jeff! BEN, oh my god, are you okay Benny Bunny?" Kendra asked, looking at the thin cut Jeff's knife had caused.

BEN pushed her off of him, glaring harshly. Kendra gave him a hurt look, her heart squeezing in panic.

"Don't _touch me,"_ he snapped, feeling an immense amount of hurt himself, "is this what you've been doing the last two weeks?! Romping around with _him?!"_

"BEN, no that's not-"

"Shut it, I don't want to hear your stupid excuses. I can't believe you would cheat on me, Kendra. Especially with Jeff, the bastard who not only killed your parents but kidnapped you to keep you as a fucking _toy!"_

Kendra flinched, looking at the ground with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening, and he wouldn't even listen to what had really been happening. Silence stretched between the two of them, the occasional sniffle from Kendra the only thing breaking it.

"BEN, you need to listen-"

"No, _you_ need to listen. You have been obsessed with one-upping me for _years_ , and I'm sick of it. I get a catch-phrase? Well shit, Jeff comes up with a better one that literally everyone knows about! Now I get an amazing girlfriend and you sleep around with her behind my back, well I'm done with your bullshit Jeff!"

"BEN you idiot, I haven't been sleeping with her!" Jeff shouted, glaring at the blond.

BEN scoffed, crossing his arms, "bullshit. Do you really think I'm going to believe either of you now?"

"Slender can prove it," Kendra said, her voice so soft the two boys had to strain to hear it.

"What?" BEN asked, frowning in confusion.

"Oh yeah, he can still read minds, can't he?"

Kendra nodded, looking up at BEN and Jeff, tears slowly rolling down her face. Seeing her so sad made BEN flinch and Jeff's heart ache.

"Fine, he can go through them and I'll trust him if he says you guys weren't fucking, but know that if he finds out otherwise, I _never_ want you two to talk to me _ever_ again."

They started walking back to the campsite so Jeff could pack up everything and BEN could lead them back to the mansion. The entire time Kendra's heart ached and she remained quiet. Slender would still see the first kiss, he would tell BEN, and she would be short one boyfriend. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to cry or sob since she wasn't the quietest when she did.

The silence was unbearable for Jeff. He wanted to comfort Kendra, but he was afraid BEN would take it the wrong way and she would get even more hurt. He couldn't let that happen, he wouldn't forgive himself.

Kendra shivered as the day started to draw to a close, the heat from the summer sun fading until she was left with chattering teeth in the cold. She didn't dare ask the other two for something to help warm her up, she almost hoped she died from pneumonia so she wouldn't have to deal with the heartache and fear she was going through right now.

"We'll stop here for the night," BEN said, stopping abruptly and giving Kendra a worried look before glancing away. Jeff wordlessly started setting up the tent, handing Kendra the blanket so she could warm up while BEN started the fire.

Kendra gratefully wrapped the blanket around herself, sitting on the ground and staring at her lap while she waited. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't bring herself to in front of BEN and Jeff. As soon as she was able to crawl inside the tent; however, she curled up and started to cry herself to sleep while the two men outside kept watch.


	20. Chapter 20

Jeff stared at the fire, not particularly enjoying the glare BEN was sending his way. The night was quiet, save for the crackling of the flames and Jeff almost started babbling nonsense just to break the silence. Thankfully BEN spoke up before he gave in to the urge.

"Why?" the blond asked, his frown growing deeper, "that's the only thing I can't figure out. Why would you do this? I know you don't have typical morals, no one at the mansion does, but you have never stooped so low as to steal someone's girlfriend. So why?"

Jeff sighed, pushing hair out of his face while he thought. He had no idea why he wanted Kendra so badly, but he needed to give BEN an answer.

"I don't know, honestly. There's just something about her I guess. I mean, I don't feel for her the same way you do but-"

"Bullshit. Do you not see the way you look at her? Jeff you love her about as much as I do. After everything you've said and done to her, she's forgiven you and you _love_ her," BEN interrupted, crossing his arms.

Jeff shook his head, refusing to believe this, "no. I don't care what you say, but I don't love people. I _can't_ love people, I gave that ability up a long time ago."

BEN snorted, glancing at the tent and imagining Kendra inside, sleeping hard. He doubted she was resting well, she never did when she was experiencing emotional turmoil. He wished he could crawl inside and wrap his arms around her but he couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal. She had let Jeff kiss her, and who knew what else they had done in the isolation of the forest? BEN almost didn't want to know.

"Believe what you like, Jeff, but people don't just kiss their friends on the mouth. They don't act jealous every time their friends are dating someone else and they sure as hell don't destroy gifts given to their friends by their significant other. Everything you've done in the last month and a half, you've been acting like a huge dick whenever Kendra and I are together."

Jeff didn't answer, thinking through what BEN had just said. Was he really in love with Kendra? He wasn't sure, but he doubted it. He swore he lost the ability to love when he killed his entire family years ago. He used to do anything just to get a little bit of attention, and the only one who had loved him was his brother, but he killed him during a moment of insanity. Now his family was everyone at the mansion, and all of them had given up a part of their humanity when they joined.

BEN watched Jeff, wondering if he was starting to connect the dots. There was no doubt in BEN's mind that Jeff was in love with Kendra. He used to agree with Jeff, saying there was no way Jeff could be in love, but now? You'd have to be blind not to see it, and even then he was sure EJ would guess pretty fast.

"What's it like to be in love?" Jeff asked abruptly, grabbing a long stick to poke at the fire and keep it going.

BEN sighed, taking a moment before answering, "it's like the rush of chasing a victim. When you're so full of adrenaline and glee just before the kill. Your heart is racing, your face hurts from the constant grinning, and it's like you fall into the insanity for a few blissful moments. But it's not insanity. It's a pure feeling that makes you want to do anything for the person you've fallen for."

Jeff listened carefully, the description hitting him hard. He really was in love with her. How the hell was he supposed to react to this? He obviously couldn't tell her, she was already dealing with enough with the pain of BEN's imminent rejection. He wasn't stupid, he knew Slender would tell BEN about the kiss that second day of the trip, and he so badly wanted to be there for Kendra, but he wasn't sure she would let him.

"Jeff I'm not mad at you for falling for her, honestly it's not hard to do. She's amazing and beautiful, but I can't believe you would act on that love while she was dating me."

Jeff wiped his hand down his face, trying to think clearly through everything that was suddenly revealed to him. He really needed to sleep on this information, and considering he didn't sleep often the need to now just proved to him that it was almost too much to realize this.

"I'm taking a nap, wake me up if something exciting happens," Jeff mumbled, laying down on his side after pulling his hood up to cover his eyes.

BEN watched Jeff, surprised. Tomorrow they would be at the mansion and Slender would give him the truth. Tomorrow, BEN would know if Kendra really was faithful to him. Tomorrow he would either lose the girl he loved or he'd never let her go.


	21. Chapter 21

Kendra trailed behind Jeff and BEN the next morning, bags under her eyes and her arms once again wrapped around herself. She hadn't slept very well during the night, her mind plagued with nightmares of everyone suddenly hating her. The worst one was where no matter what she said, everyone called her a liar and a cheat and she got kicked out on her ass with nowhere to go.

She sniffled, wiping the tears forming in her eyes away with the edge of her sleeve. What was she going to do when BEN found out and left her? Kendra glanced at Jeff, who had been avoiding her the entire walk. Had she done something wrong? Did he regret being friends with her? Suddenly all the worries she had yesterday before BEN had showed up overwhelmed her and she almost burst into sobs.

Jeff felt wrong not walking with Kendra, but after last night's revelation, he needed to think without her distracting him. He couldn't think about being in love with her while she was _right there._ He sighed, shoving his hands into the large pocket at the front of his hoodie so he could run his fingers along the soothing edge of his knife. If he lost any more of his sanity he'd probably name the damn thing and start talking to it.

So he was in love with Kendra, and he highly doubted she felt the same way. The thought sent a shot of pain through his chest. Jeff frowned, glancing over his shoulder at Kendra to see she was on the verge of tears. Shit, what was wrong now? Hesitating, Jeff hung back until he was walking next to Kendra.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, his concern for her clear. She shook her head, her hair falling over her shoulder to hide her face. Jeff's heart clenched, and he knew the pain was only going to get worse when they got back to the mansion.

BEN stopped suddenly, turning to look at Kendra with a regretful expression, "look, Kendra, whatever happens in there, whatever Slender tells me, I do love you."

Kendra looked up at him, sniffling and wiping her face before answering, "then why are you doing this? Why can't you believe me when I say that _nothing_ happened between me and Jeff?"

"Because I _saw_ you Kendra. I saw him kiss you, I watched as _you didn't stop him."_

Kendra felt her lip quiver, tears finally overflowing and spilling down her cheeks. No more words were spoken, though BEN waited several minutes for her to defend herself. She didn't say anything, she had nothing to say. What BEN had said was the truth, she hadn't pushed Jeff away and there was nothing she could do to change that. He kissed her in a moment of weakness and she didn't respond the way she should've.

BEN sighed, pushing through the last set of trees and the row of bushes that lined them to enter the clearing the mansion sat in. The other two followed, a tense air surrounding them as Kendra started to grow contempt towards Jeff for causing all of this. If he hadn't ignored her relationship status, she wouldn't be in this situation.

Slender appeared in front of the trio, his arms crossed as he looked down at them all. It was clear he wasn't angry at their early return, he knew that they were here for something important, but he was agitated that he was being dragged into such drama simply because BEN was so distrustful.

"They didn't sleep together, BEN, but they had kissed quite heatedly on the second day of your punishment. If Kendra hadn't stopped Jeffrey, they truly would have slept with each other. Lunch is inside, you are all to eat before any fighting should begin, I won't have any of you starving to death."

Kendra flinched, knowing Slender had seen several of her less than safe thoughts about her own health and nodded. She was the first to push inside, ready to get out of sight of the two boys who had caused her so much pain.

BEN felt shocked, he didn't know _what_ to do now that he knew that Kendra was loyal to him but she had still been unfaithful. He wanted to just forgive and forget, but he couldn't. She had broken his trust, he couldn't just let that go. He sighed, glancing at Jeff before walking inside so he could get something to eat.

Jeff looked at Slender, frowning as his concern for Kendra grew. Obviously Slender knew his feelings, but Jeff felt the need to explain anyway. He wanted advice from the only father figure he'd ever had that had taken care of him. Jeff didn't know what to do, and it scared him.

"It's okay to be scared, Jeffrey. Love is a terrifying thing that can bring even the strongest of men to their knees."

"Why? Why is it so easy to love her? I didn't even know I could love someone until she came along, and now I have this fluttery feeling in my stomach whenever she smiles, I don't get it."

Slender sighed, kneeling to Jeff's level and resting a hand on his shoulder, "I understand how you feel, believe it or not, I was in love once myself. They were beautiful to me inside and out but they never returned the feelings. I need you to understand that no matter what happens, you need to be there for Kendra. You may not be there as her mate, but you can always be there as her friend."

Jeff went silent, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. He could definitely be there for her, but could he really handle keeping his hands to himself? It was obvious he had a hard time controlling himself when he was alone with her, and that was before he knew his feelings but now? Could he really keep himself from openly loving her?

"I'll leave you to think, Jeffrey, but please try and come inside soon for lunch, alright?"

Jeff nodded, and just like that he was alone. It was probably a good thing, since he needed more time to himself to think things over, but he wished dearly for some friendly company. Maybe he could find EJ?


	22. Chapter 22

BEN felt so many conflicted feelings boiling inside him. He knew Kendra was in pain, and he _so badly_ wanted to go to her and comfort her, but he was in pain too. He couldn't just pretend that she hadn't done anything wrong, because she _did_. She hurt him in so many ways by letting Jeff kiss her. _Several times_ , according to Slender.

BEN sighed, closing his eyes against the ceiling of his bedroom. He'd been laying on his bed for about an hour or two now, and none of his thoughts were exactly positive. He'd debated playing video games to distract himself from the sharp pain in his chest, but he just wasn't feeling up to it. He wasn't really feeling up to doing any of his usual hobbies.

He felt miserable, pain making him want to roll over and pass out, anger making him want to throw something at the wall, and so many more emotions tearing at his insides and making him want to scream. BEN was exhausted from the walk home, from the overload of emotions, from everything but if he slept like he wanted to, he doubted he'd ever leave his bed again.

Needless to say, he was agonized. A few times someone knocked on his door, but he ignored it and pretended he just wasn't here. Honestly, that sounded great. Maybe he could figure out how to get the ground to swallow him so he wouldn't have to deal with this much pain?

"Benjamin, don't be ridiculous."

BEN jumped at the crackling voice suddenly filling his head. He looked to see Slender had managed to unlock his door and was now standing in the middle of his room with his arms crossed. The blond blinked, but didn't say anything. He really didn't feel like talking.

Slender sighed, rubbing his forefinger and thumb along his forehead, almost as if he was trying to soothe a headache. BEN watched him, remaining silent and waiting for the leader of the large, bizarre, killing family to say something.

"I understand you're in pain, but that does not mean you can shirk your responsibilities. You are the only one capable of going among the humans for any length of time and we need you to get more groceries. You've been gone for three weeks, and we are beginning to run low on a variety of things."

BEN nodded, waiting to see if that was all Slender wanted. He'd been doing a lot of waiting lately. Slender didn't say anything for a while, and BEN just stared. Finally, after a decent ten minutes, Slender sighed and turned to leave the room. BEN moved to get up, pausing when he noticed Slender was hesitating in the doorway.

"I'm sorry you're in pain, Benjamin," he said, his voice soft as he looked over his shoulder.

BEN nodded, pressing his lips into a firm line. He didn't want to talk about his heartbreak right now. He wanted to figure out what he was going to do without Kendra at his side, without the comfort of knowing that she was his. His heart squeezed, and he took a deep breath to try and relax it. Slender was right, he needed to take care of his responsibilities despite his pain.

Slender hesitated a few more moments before he left BEN alone to gather himself. The blond was grateful, but he really couldn't bring himself to _feel_ anything but the screaming pain in his chest. He put his head in his hands, sitting there for a few minutes before rubbing them over his face and getting up.

He concentrated for a moment before he felt the tightness of his human body. He hated being in it, he felt trapped when he went on these errand runs. Kendra loved his eyes though, and that had made being in this body a little more bearable. Only, now she wasn't his anymore and the thought brought him another wave of pain.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself before he grabbed the money from it's usual spot and left his room. No one stopped him when he passed through the living room, which was another small thing to be grateful for. He really could use this time alone, if he was being honest with himself.

An hour into the walk, and BEN was glaring at the ground, his thoughts building a fire of anger in him. What did Jeff have that he didn't? Why did Kendra let him do that? He kidnapped and tortured her for fuck's sake! He grit his teeth, his glare turning to the path ahead of him as his fists clenched.

He hated them both. He wasn't about to let them take away his happiness. BEN had _trusted_ Kendra, and she had gone behind his back and fucking made out with Jeff. The betrayal he felt couldn't even _begin_ to be described by words. The anger building in his gut twisted, and he let out an enraged shout and turned to punch a tree.

A pain shot through his arm and he cursed loudly. Fuck, why had he done that? He examined his hand, scowling as he noticed the splinters sticking out of his fingers and the inflamed swelling of his wrist. He'd probably broken it, which made him question his stupidity. He wasn't a fighter, he could barely defend himself against a human if they decided to attack him, why the hell did he feel the need to punch a fucking tree?

He knew the answer, of course, but that didn't douse the burning frustration with himself that was building alongside the anger. He began picking out the splinters, resuming his walk while he scowled at the tiny pieces of wood embedded into his skin. It was going to be hell trying to get those out.

BEN ignored the throbbing pain in his wrist, trusting that it would be fine by the time he got back home. He sighed, realizing he'd probably have to hide it so the humans he'd have to interact with wouldn't freak. This was going to be a long couple of days. He'd be lucky if he didn't get an infection while in his human body.

He shoved his injured hand in the pocket of his jacket, not wanting to turn back and go to Slender for help like he probably should. He really needed this alone time desperately.

Kendra's smile flashed through his head, making a throbbing ache more painful than his wrist take place in his chest. The anger reared it's ugly head again, and BEN had to suppress the urge to scream at the sky. He should have known he wouldn't be able to get over her that quickly. Just because there was a momentary lapse in pain didn't mean it wasn't going to come back.

He kicked at a pebble on the ground and glared when it only moved forward a few feet. He wanted it to go sailing, he wanted his kick to make it fly away and out of his sight along with his feelings. He wanted all of this pain to fuck off and leave him alone so he could feel better and get over the most perfect girl he had ever met.

Kendra had been _everything_ to BEN, and she had _ruined_ him. How could he forgive her for that?

BEN sighed, pausing in his walk to look around and ignore the pain in his hand as it went from a dull ache to burning throb. He couldn't help but compare his emotional pain to his physical pain. At first everything was kind of dull-not really happening as long as he didn't acknowledge it-but as time went on he _had_ to accept that Kendra had betrayed him and his pain turned into a fiery anger that disguised how hurt he felt.

BEN realized he was starting to repeat himself as he discussed his emotions in his mind. He sighed, running his broken hand through his hair without thinking before cursing at the sharp sting that shot through his knuckles and wrist.

Maybe he should turn back? He considered the thought before the image of Kendra in Jeff's arms flashed through his mind. The anger coursed through him and he decided he really didn't want to see either of them for a while. He'd deal with the pain.


	23. Chapter 23

"Kendra?" Slender asked, entering the girl's room with a worried tone. She hadn't left since she entered three days ago. He understood that the girl was probably hurting, and he knew she probably needed to be alone but every meal he sent up to her came back untouched. He couldn't let this continue.

The redhead was lying face down on her bed. What was with everyone and moping in their beds? Slender would've preferred if they moped by cleaning, he could use some help around the house.

Shaking his head, Slender sighed and sat on her bed. She made no sign that she knew he was there, no movement or sound to respond to him. Concern and pinch of fear shot through him, making him put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kendra I know you're upset, but I need you to eat. You cannot continue like this," he said softly, silence filling the room.

Confusion settled over his mind. _Silence?_ It was never quiet for him, not when he could hear the thoughts of others.

Panic gripped Slender, and he shook the girl's shoulder.

Nothing. Not a single reaction.

Slender's panic increased, and he forced Kendra to turn around.

It wasn't Kendra.

Slender felt relief fill him at the sight of the bizarre constructed body before intense worry filled his gut once more. _Where was she?_

Kendra curled up on herself, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She was scared and alone and devastated, surrounded by the giant trees of the forest and hidden in an alcove formed by a root jutting from the ground.

She had wanted to be alone without risk of anyone interrupting her, so she snuck out of her room and left, but now she was hopelessly lost. She'd been lost for two days, and she could only hope that she wasn't near the section of forest that the Rake was in.

Kendra had just gotten out of this situation, why did she have to be stupid enough to barrel right back into the forest?

She'd been roaming for the last two days, and she was pretty sure she'd made herself more lost by doing so. Now she was resolute to sit in this alcove until she died or was found by someone from the mansion.

A rabbit darted past her, soon followed by a fox, and she jumped. Oh God, Kendra was going to die out here, wasn't she?

The thought made her lip quiver and she let out a sob. She didn't want to die, not out here all alone. Not when she needed to apologize to BEN, not when she had so much to work out with Jeff. Kendra had too many problems to work out for her to die now.

"Please come find me, Benny Bunny," she whimpered, sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Who the hell is Benny Bunny?"

Kendra let out a short shriek, jumping again, this time hitting her head on the thick root above her. Looking up, she saw a blue mask painted with black eyes that were dripping black goop.

"Wh-Who are you?" she asked, hiccupping slightly.

The masked figure stared at her, not answering for a few minutes before sitting down in front of her.

"You can call me EJ. Now you get to answer my question. Who's Benny Bunny?"

Kendra hesitated, drying the tears on her face while she debated answering the question.

"My ex," she answered finally, her voice quiet and tense.

EJ tilted his head, not saying anything as he stared at Kendra. She shifted uncomfortably, a stick suddenly stabbing her buttcheek. Wincing, she grabbed the thin piece of wood and started to fiddle with it.

"I have a house not far from here if you wanna hang out there. You look terrible."

Kendra couldn't keep the giggle from her voice, "I feel terrible. I would actually like that a lot, but I have to pass."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know if you're a serial killer or not. And while I've had my fair share of experiences with those, I don't know if you're friends with the same people I am."

Another couple minutes of silence descended between them. Kendra wished she could see his expressions through his mask so she wasn't left so in the dark about what he was thinking. The silence dragged on, and Kendra continued to fiddle with the stick.

"Benny is BEN, isn't he?" he finally asked, the sudden question taking Kendra off guard.

"Well, yeah? I wouldn't give him that nickname if his name wasn't Ben?" she answered, her brows furrowing in confusion.

EJ shook his head, "no, I meant BEN Drowned. 5'2", looks like Link with black eyes?"

Kendra blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah, that's him," Kendra confirmed, snapping a piece of the stick off.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. If you're friends with that group, I won't hurt you," EJ said, standing and dusting off his black jeans.

Kendra felt the urge to trust him, crawling out of her little alcove when the man got out of the way. She stood, stretching her arms over her head and letting out a long, satisfied groan. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting in that cramped spot.

EJ waited for her to stop stretching before leading her away from her hiding spot. Kendra followed him willingly, glad for the chance to use her legs.

There was another long stretch of silence as they walked, and Kendra felt just as uncomfortable as before but this time she used the opportunity to think about everything that's happened in the last month and what she had figured out during the last three days.

Kendra had to fix things with BEN, that was a no brainer. She doubted she'd be able to get her relationship with him back, no matter how much she wanted it, but she needed to at least keep his friendship.

Of course, there was also the issue with Jeff. Kendra didn't know how to approach that particular problem, especially since he kept kissing her. Not that she didn't like the kisses, Jeff was definitely a great kisser, but she couldn't just forget that he was the reason that she wasn't dating BEN anymore.

Kendra sighed, attempting to run her fingers through her curls before she yelped at the sharp tug when her fingers got caught in the tangled mess. She massaged her head, pouting at the ground.

"Are you alright?" EJ asked, making Kendra jump and look up to see he had paused in his walking to look back at her.

She smiled sheepishly and nodded, "yeah, I'm fine, thanks," she answered, locking her hands behind her back.

EJ nodded, then returned to his walk. Kendra kept her eyes on his back, tilting her head in curiosity. What was he doing out here? If he was really like the others, why didn't he live in the mansion with them? She frowned, righting her head and pausing in her walk. Should she have really trusted him as easily as she did?


	24. Chapter 24

Jeff swung the axe down, relishing the sound of the blade slicing through thick wood. It wasn't as satisfying as a knife through flesh, but the violence still helped him to calm the warring thoughts in his head. He picked up one of the halves of the log he had just chopped and set it back onto the stump.

He had just shown up at EJ's a few hours ago, and his friend had already set him to work; not that he minded, he needed something to do so he could get his thoughts straight. The repetitive action of swinging the axe above his head before letting his arms fall so the blade could sink until the wood split in half was almost meditative for him.

So far he had only been able to think back, confirming the suspicions BEN had planted into his mind. He was in love with Kendra.

Jeff breathed heavily, dropping the axe onto the ground now that he was done chopping wood. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, looking at the tall trees that surrounded Ej's home as his thoughts took over.

His feelings would definitely explain a lot, like his anger at seeing BEN with Kendra, his jealousy when he saw them acting all lovey dovey. Hell, it even explained why he had gotten so fucking _scared_ before Kendra and BEN had even gotten together.

He'd screwed that up, though, hadn't he?

Jeff sighed, looking at the wood he still needed to stack against the house as his guilt ate at him.

He'd ruined Kendra's happiness for his own selfish reasons, and now he had to live with the fact that he'd devastated her _twice_.

Jeff didn't deserve-hell, nobody really deserved Kendra, she was _perfect_. Soft, pink lips; thick, fiery red hair; amazing curves, Jeff didn't really know how he managed to keep his hands to himself for so long.

Of course, there was also her personality traits on top of her physical beauty. She was kind, passionate, stubborn, hotheaded, forgiving… Honestly, how could Jeff _not_ fall in love with her?

Kendra's affectionate smile flashed through his mind, and Jeff couldn't resist a small smile of his own. He started to pick up the wood he'd been staring mindlessly at for the past twenty minutes, moving to the side of the house where the rest was stacked.

As soon as Jeff was finished, he wiped the sweat from his face again before going through a side door and into the kitchen. He grabbed a tall glass and filled it with water, gulping it down greedily. He slammed the glass down and wiped at his mouth, turning only to freeze in place at what he saw.

 _Kendra._

What was she doing here? How had she found him so fast? He'd only had _three days_ to work through things, it wasn't long enough, he needed more time.

By now she had noticed him and was staring at him with her wide green eyes. They stood there, gaping at each other, neither moving or saying anything to break the silence.

Then EJ walked in.

"I see you two found each other," he commented, crossing his arms and leaning against a counter as he watched the stare down.

Kendra was the first to look away. She turned towards EJ, a scowl on her face and irritation in her eyes. Jeff could tell she wasn't happy, but he was also sad that he no longer had her attention.

God, when did he get so needy?

"You didn't say you already had someone over," Kendra said, impatience ringing out in her tone.

"You didn't ask, besides, would you have preferred to stay in that tiny alcove in the forest?" EJ shot back, not at all affected by her anger.

"Compared to being in the same house with _him?_ I'd rather get eaten by a fox," she snapped, and Jeff flinched.

He knew she was mad at him, he knew he had fucked up his chances with her, but he didn't think it was _this_ bad. Jeff felt like a frog was in his throat, and he did his best to swallow it down while he looked away, staring at the empty glass on the counter next to him.

A short, terrified squeak from Kendra made him look up again. He stared in shock for a moment, processing that EJ was now pressing Kendra against a wall with a scalpel to her throat.

"You'd rather get eaten?" he snarled, pressing the small blade deeper into her neck, "I can arrange that."

The sight of a thin trail of blood trickling down Kendra's neck pushed Jeff into action. He took three steps forward, gripped his friend's shoulder, and threw him backwards to get him off of her.

Kendra collapsed to the floor, her entire body shaking as she stared, horrified, at EJ.

"What the hell, Jeff?" EJ asked, anger settled deep into his voice, "she insulted you, why the fuck are you protecting her?"

Jeff hesitated in answering, kneeling before Kendra to make sure she was okay but she flinched away from his touch. He sighed, standing again so he could turn to look at his best friend.

"I have my reasons, Jack. I pissed her off, I kind of deserved her saying that. At least she wasn't a coward and didn't wait until my back was turned," he said finally, exhaustion filling his limbs and making his expression droop.

EJ stared at him, Jeff able to sense the glare behind the mask, before shaking his head and leaving through the side door Jeff had come in through. Jeff waited, only turning to look at Kendra again when he was sure EJ wasn't going to come back for a while.

"What are you doing here, Kendra?" he asked, returning to where he had been standing before EJ had attacked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," she mumbled, her hand going to her neck before drawing back so she could look at the blood smeared across her palm.

"I'm here because I needed time away from everyone else so I could think."

Kendra seemed to shrink, pressing her hand back to her throat as she looked at the ground. Jeff longed to go to her, to wrap her in his arms, but he knew she wouldn't accept any comfort he had to offer.

"I got lost in the forest and EJ found me," she whispered, the tears she was struggling to keep back evident in her shaking voice.

"Why were you in the forest?" Jeff asked, keeping his own voice soft so she wouldn't think he was mad at her.

"Wanted to be alone and away from the chaos at the mansion."

Jeff nodded, understanding where she was coming from. It was why he was here, after all. He watched her in silence for a few minutes, frowning in concern when he heard her start to sniffle.

"Kendra what's wrong?" he asked gently, feeling his expression soften as he watched her.

Strange how if someone had told him a year ago that Kendra, a weak human, would make him act like a weak human himself he would have laughed in their face before slitting their throat.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he realized that Kendra was glaring at him.

"What?" he asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"What's _wrong?_ " she growled, standing slowly on shaky legs, "what's wrong is that _you_ ruined my life!"

Not this again. Jeff sighed, but didn't stop her as she advanced on him. He pretended not to notice her tears.

"You come in and _murder_ my parents! You kidnap and torture me, and when I'm _finally_ able to get out of that stupid basement where I was damn near _starving_ to death, you had the _audacity_ to treat me like a piece of property! And then I'm finally starting to pick up the pieces of myself that _you_ tore apart, you turn right back around and crush me!"

Jeff stared, not saying anything as she ranted. He deserved this, he deserved her anger.

"And as if that wasn't enough to satisfy you, you go and destroy my relationship with BEN! You destroyed one of the only things keeping me afloat, this is all _your_ fault!" she screamed at him; Jeff flinching and looking away when she jabbed a finger into his chest. Still, he didn't say anything.

"You ruined everything," she repeated, her voice cracking on the last word.

He really had ruined everything, hadn't he?

Jeff didn't look at her, didn't say anything either. He just stared at the wall, flinching again when she let out a broken sob.

What felt like an eternity of silence passed between them, Jeff staring blankly at anything but Kendra, and Kendra glaring coldly at him. He wished she would go back to shouting at him, at least then he knew what was going through her head.

"I _never_ want to see your face again," she spat, then turned on her heel and stormed out of the house.

He was already regretting not stopping her.


	25. Chapter 25

Kendra stormed through the trees, tears blurring her vision and the wind was cold against her hot face. She sniffled, wiping her sleeve across her eyes in an attempt to dry her tears. The dark was beginning to settle around her, the animals of the forest starting to stir more as they looked for a safe place to hide for the night.

She glared heatedly at the ground as she walked, the crunch of the undergrowth beneath her feet more satisfying than it probably should be since she was imagining walking on Jeff's stupid face. Jeff was such an _idiot_ , she couldn't believe he had the _nerve_ to ask her what was wrong after everything that had happened.

Kendra pulled back her foot and kicked a rock, letting out a shout of frustration. How could she have let this happen to her? She was just starting to get back on her feet and she let that asshole kiss her! _Twice!_

Forcing her fingers through her curls, this time ignoring the sting of pain when they caught knots, Kendra groaned. She hadn't been thinking when she ran out of there, and now she once again had no clue where she was. God, how many times was she going to get lost?

Kendra stopped walking, wiping at her eyes to dry some of the tears so she could look for a safe place to hide for the night. She knew the forest wasn't exactly a safe place, no matter what time it was, so she wasn't surprised by the rise of panic when she realized that there _was_ no safe place for her to hide.

God, how could she be so fucking stupid?

Hoping to find somewhere to hide before it got too dark to move around, Kendra started walking again. This time she kept an eye out for a place to sleep, biting her lip through her nerves while she looked. A rustle of leaves not from her made her jump, and she whirled around to see a fox frozen to its spot and staring at her.

Her heart raced as she returned the stare, not daring to move again until the fox darted off in the opposite direction she was going. Kendra remained frozen a minute longer before she realized her lungs were burning for air and she sucked in. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath.

Gulping in air, Kendra resumed her search. She hadn't forgotten about that Rake creature from a few weeks ago, and the thought of running into it again sent a wave of terror down her spine.

She was weak, wasn't she?

Kendra really should've expected this, she was only human after all and what else could she do in such a terrifying position other than cry and hide? Sure, she'd trained with Jeff in the beginning but that felt like so long ago now that she wasn't sure if she remembered anything that he taught her.

Kendra stopped, seeing her alcove again. Relief at being somewhere familiar flooded her, and she instantly crawled inside. When she woke up in the morning, Kendra would start looking for a way home again.

Slender appeared in a different area of woods near EJ's cabin, searching desperately for Kendra's electrical energy. He'd been looking for her since he discovered her missing, and his mind was frayed with worry. What if she had run into a monster he had no control over?

He picked up on her familiar energy, and instantly relief filled him. She wouldn't be giving an energy signature if she was dead. Slender started in the direction he sensed her energy, crouching low when he saw a foot peeking past a large root that was jutting out of the ground.

Kendra was asleep, but also alive and well if not a bit worse for wear. Slender sighed, taking a moment to let the worry drain out of him before he set to work in picking her up. He easily slipped his arms under her sleeping form, but it was a little more difficult to remove her from the niche she had curled up in without harming her.

When Slender had her freed, he used his abilities to materialize in front of his home. Kendra stirred, and he paused to make sure she stayed asleep before he went inside to set her in her own bed, the ridiculous dummy she had built of herself already gone.

After pulling the blanket up around her shoulders, Slender left the room. He took another moment to enjoy the feeling of relief at having Kendra safe before he went to work at telling the others he had sent out to look for that she was home.

Manifesting behind Toby, Slender looked down at the small boy with his head buried in the bushes.

"Tobias, what are you doing?" he asked, his amusement at his proxy's position.

Toby yelped, yanking himself from the bushes to look at Slender with wide eyes and leaves in his hair and his face smudge in dirt.

"Uh, hey Slendy! What're you doing here?" he asked, his eyes filled with a sheepish guilt.

Slender crossed his arms, questioning the boy's actions for a moment before shaking his head and letting it go for the time being.

"I have found Kendra, and she's safe at home. I need you to run and tell the others that they can return now."

Toby seemed to frown, his eyebrows knitting together as Slender spoke.

"Wait, why do _I_ have to be the one to tell everyone? You have the cool poofy powers, why don't _you_ do it?"

Slender shook his head, already expecting the resistance.

"Because I need to look after Kendra, and you were the closest to the house. Were you even looking?"

The boy's guilty look returned, and he started to pick the leaves out of his hair rather than answering. Slender sighed, shaking his head again.

"That alone is reason enough to send you to gather the others, now please do as I asked."

Toby groaned, but got up and began to search for his housemates. He hadn't even wanted to look for someone he barely knew, why should _he_ care if a stupid human got lost?


	26. Chapter 26

Toby sat cross-legged in a chair next to Kendra's bed, glaring at the sleeping redhead intensely. He crossed his arms, his anger at having to sit and wait for her to wake up while Slender made her food simmering low in his stomach.

Why the hell should he be the one to look after the stupid human? He didn't even like her!

Toby grumbled to himself, moving his glare from Kendra to his lap. He wanted things to go back to how they were before _she_ showed up and started hogging all of the attention. Back to when Jeff and BEN would actually spend time with him. Hell, even Slender started ignoring him more.

Toby was fucking _alone_ , and it was all the fault of this stupid human girl who popped into their lives and started changing everything with her radiant smile and bullheaded personality-BEN's words, not his.

"What's wrong?"

Toby jumped, looking up to see that Kendra had woken up and was now looking at him with concern despite her fever-flushed face and weak voice. He scoffed, rolling his eyes, refusing to be fooled by fake kindness like everyone else.

The proxy crossed his arms, deciding not to grace her with an answer and instead pouted at his lap again. Maybe if he ignored her long enough, she would stop existing.

The human coughed before croaking out another question, "who are you?"

He kept to his decision to ignore her, and started to pick at the loose threads on his jeans.

God he hoped she would go away, whether she was sick or not. If he was being honest, he had been overjoyed when Slender had asked him to look for her. If she could _stay lost_ , then everything would go back to normal. But _no_ , she had to go and get herself found.

She didn't seem to get the hint that Toby was not interested in talking, because only two minutes of silence passed before she asked another question.

"How did I get here?" she asked before coughing for a few seconds.

Toby sighed in irritation and shifted to face the human again. He didn't answer for a minute, deciding he would make sure she knew just how much he didn't like her with an aggravated glare.

"Slender found you in the forest," he answered finally, not bothering to try and keep his voice soft for her.

Kendra stared at him for a few moments instead of answering, making Toby shift uncomfortably.

"What?" he snapped.

Kendra answered with a tired smile, shaking her head.

It pissed Toby off.

"And what the fuck are you so smiley about?" he asked, his anger flaring when she responded with a giggle.

He couldn't help the smug satisfaction when her laughter ended in a coughing fit.

"Nothing, sorry. I shouldn't have laughed at your anger, that was mean," she said, her smile turning apologetic.

"Yeah well, you did," he grumbled, turning away from her with a pout.

Silence encased them again, Kendra coughing every few minutes. Toby felt like she was faking, pretending like she was severely sick just to get sympathy from him. Well he had some news for her!

"Oh shut up already!" he spat, jumping out of his chair to loom over her.

Except he had forgotten that he had his legs crossed, so he flailed out of his seat and to the ground, his head hitting the bed frame on his way to the floor.

"Oh god, are you okay?" Kendra asked, her face an expression of concern.

Toby scowled, his pride hurt and his head throbbing as he tried to get up. When he was finally on his feet, he glowered at Kendra.

"No, I'm not fucking okay," he growled through his teeth, curling his hands into fists.

Kendra shifted away from him, surprised by his anger and wondering why it was all directed at her. Was it because she had laughed at him?

"I'm sorry," she said, hoping to calm him down. He looked ready to hit her, and she was already feeling sick.

"For what?" he snapped, his rage building in his chest. "For being little miss perfect? I can't imagine why you'd want to apologize for that since you have everyone else wrapped around your little finger."

"Wh-What?" Kendra asked, confused at what this stranger was getting at. She didn't have anyone wrapped around her finger, she already fucked up the two strongest relationships she had.

"Don't play dumb with me! Ever since you've gotten here everyone's been acting different! Fawning over you and shoving me aside, thinking you're the best thing to ever walk into this damned mansion! Well I know better, I know you're nothing but a liar and a bitch with nothing better to do other than to ruin our lives!"

"Tobias, why didn't you tell me any of your feelings?"

Toby whirled around to see Slender standing in the doorway with a tray that held a bowl of soup and some crackers. The sight only angered him more.

"Oh, like you would care what I felt about your precious pet human?" he snarled.

There was silence for all of ten seconds before Toby scoffed and started to storm out of the room.

"Get someone else to take care of her, I'm done trying to play nice with everyone," he said, shoving past Slender and disappearing down the hall.


	27. Chapter 27

Kendra stared after him, confusion and hurt overwhelming her tired mind. Liar? Bitch? _Pet?_ What had she ever done to him? She didn't even know him, and he was calling her these things as if she'd done him some terrible wrong!

"He's feeling abandoned by us Kendra, do not hold what he has said about you against him," Slender said, though his head was turned in the direction Toby had run off to.

How could she not? The kid blew up at her, and all she had been doing was coughing!

"I understand that you're upset Kendra, but so is he. Though it would appear he's more upset with us, those he considers family, than he is with you."

Then why was he so angry with her?

"It sounded to me as if he was blaming you for his feelings of abandonment."

"Get out of my head!" she said, lifting her hands to dig her fingers through her hair as if to try and pull him out herself.

"Apologies Kendra, but it is not that simple. I am in everyone's mind at all times, I can not simply turn off that ability, as much as I'd like to," Slender explained, finally walking towards her to give her the tray of soup and crackers.

Kendra looked up at him, looking at the soup before the smiling. She recognized the smell of Chicken Noodle soup, and she already couldn't wait to dig in. Her throat was killing her.

"Thanks Slender," she said, gratefully taking the tray.

"Of course. Once you finish eating you are going to rest. BEN hasn't returned yet, and I need to go look for him."

Kendra paused, her fork full of noodles halfway between her mouth and the bowl.

"BEN's gone?" she asked, carefully dropping her fork back into the soup to avoid splashing it on herself.

Slender nodded, sighing when she heard her thoughts of trying to persuade him to let her look too.

"No, 're sick, I will not allow you to leave your bed until I am sure you no longer have a fever."

Kendra frowned, hating that he was able to read what she wanted to say before she was even able to speak. Of course, now that Slender had mentioned that BEN was missing, she was worried that the dorky elf might be in trouble.

Slender watched the girl pout before he spoke.

"I'm sure he's fine, Kendra. There is no need to worry about him. I will return with BEN before you knew I was gone," he said, his static filled voice soft and comforting in tone.

Kendra nodded, swirling her fork in her soup and remained silent. When it was clear to Slender that she wasn't going to try and get up, he patted her head and left the room.

The redhead remained in her bed, staring dejectedly at her soup and feeling broken.

How was Kendra supposed to make up for hurting BEN if she couldn't even leave her bed and help find him to make sure he was okay? How was she supposed to repair her relationship with the elf when she was sick and weak? She couldn't, and Kendra hated it.

All she wanted was to repair her life to the best of her ability. It was what she wanted when she was first sentenced to life in this damned mansion, and it was what she craved now. A sense of normalcy in a life where she was surrounded by serial killers with unnatural abilities and freakish appearances.

Kendra frowned at her soup, then finally sighed and set the tray on her nightstand, no longer having the appetite to eat. Now that she had her lap free, Kendra pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them in her favorite position to think.

She could always sneak out and look for BEN on her own, but that would end in her getting lost again and she doubted Slender had the patience to deal with her doing that to herself _again._

What if she got someone else who lived in the house to help her so that wouldn't happen again? At least that way she could be useful and not a burden to so many people at once. She could narrow down the people worrying about her to one person.

But who could she ask that would be willing to travel with her and keep her from passing out or dying at the same time while they looked? Kendra didn't know many people living in the mansion, she'd only really had contact with a handful of the hundreds living here.

Maybe she could knock on doors until she found someone who didn't try to kill her right away? No, that was stupid. Besides, according to Slender and based on how Jeff saved her from the Rake, no one would try to kill her as long as they knew she was under Slender's wing.

Kendra let out a frustrated groan, rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes to try and clear the sick haze in her mind. Her head was beginning to pound, and the steady throb was making it difficult to think.

Looking down at her black and white comforter, Kendra finally decided that she would take a nap before making a plan of action.


	28. Chapter 28

BEN should've gone home as soon as he punched that stupid tree. Now his hand and wrist were both so swollen, he almost couldn't tell that they were supposed to be a part of his arm.

Of course, the pain he felt at every twitch of movement his fingers attempted was not helping. It was so bad he couldn't even transform back to his non-human self so that he could heal faster. Every time he tried the pain got so intense he would nearly vomit or pass out, or _both_.

He had managed to get about a day's walk into his journey before he had to stop. The pain was dizzying, and he was barely keeping himself awake.

"This is all Kendra's fault," he muttered to himself, glaring at his hand. If it weren't for her cheating ass, he wouldn't have punched that damn tree and he'd be shopping for the supplies needed back at the mansion right now.

Thinking of the mansion made BEN remember that he was supposed to call and check in with Slender _yesterday_.

"Shit!" he shouted, panic ringing through his voice.

Using his left hand, BEN pulled his phone from his pocket, struggling not to let his arm brush the ground or the tree behind him that he'd been leaning against. As soon as he had it in hand, he pressed the button on the bottom of the screen that should have turned the phone on.

The screen remained black.

His panic rising, BEN pushed the button again, and then held down the power button at the top in hopes that he had just turned it off rather than forgetting to charge it _again_.

Nothing.

"Fuck!" he shouted again, dropping his phone in his lap. _Of course_ he'd forgotten to charge it!

"Damn it, you idiot!" he said, talking to himself out loud now. It was better to fill the silence the forest had created around him.

The forest was quiet around him.

Loud warning bells went off in his head. Tensing, BEN strained his ears in hopes of hearing _some_ kind of sound. Birds chirping, rabbits rustling the leaves that covered the forest floor, the flapping of wings, _something_ that belonged to the life of the forest.

But he heard nothing that wasn't the sound of his own breathing.

Panic swelled in him again, and BEN struggled to his feet. He wasn't about to get caught in something dangerous when he was in such a vulnerable state. He only hoped he noticed the warning signs in time to get the fuck out of dodge.

BEN started a fast pace, walking in the direction of town since it was closer. His unease grew with every step, the silence seeming to grow with malice. What could have made the forest itself fall silent?

The answer came to him when he started looking around and saw a bent form in the distance to his right. Whatever it was was hunched over, its hands hovering near its face as if it was feeding from something.

The longer BEN looked, the higher his fear increased as he started to understand what he was staring at.

It was the Rake. Its skin was mottled and grey and clumped with fur. The fingers that he thought were sticks initially were the Wendigo's claws, sunk deep in the flesh of a badger. The spine of the thing was visible, poking through the skin that was shriveled, giving it the appearance of leather.

And then BEN realized that if the Rake was eating the animals of the forest, then it was probably too hungry to care what the flesh it consumed was attached to.

At the thought, BEN turned and ran. He was in his human form, the Rake wouldn't care if he was usually a killer under the protection of Slender, it just knew that BEN was currently human, and that was enough for the cannibal monster.

BEN heard the sound of crunching leaves and hungry growling, and he knew the thing was chasing him. Panic and adrenaline coursed through him, numbing the pain in his arm and helping him to pick up his speed.

But the Rake was a Wendigo, the perfect hunter of humans. So when BEN made the mistake of looking back to see where the thing was, it was gone. BEN slowed, confused and hopeful that it had stopped its chase.

A snarl of victorious laughter made BEN snap to look ahead of him again, fear renewing when he saw the Rake crouched only a few feet in front of him.

The close proximity made it possible for BEN to see its eyes, fogged with ravenous hunger and excitement. BEN took a step back, but the Rake took two steps forward and made him freeze.

"Rake, it's me. BEN. I'm under Slender's protection, remember?" BEN tried, hoping in vain that maybe his words would get through the hunger.

The Rake only snarled and took another step closer, it's haunches and shoulders flexing as it got ready to lunge. BEN took another step back, swallowing hard.

He shouldn't have moved, because the second he did, the Rake leapt towards him, its eyes locked on his neck. BEN squeezed his eyes closed and waited for a death that didn't come.

A loud screech came from the wendigo, the sound filled with pain and frustration. Wondering what was going on, BEN opened his eyes to see Slender standing in front of him and facing the Rake.

He had a tentacle wrapped around the monster's neck, the appendage getting tighter the more it struggled to get away.

The air crackling with his irritation, Slender spoke. "Rowtag, I have told you many times that if you attacked those under my protection, you would be punished. I was there for your creation, I will be here at your demise, do I make myself clear?"

The creature made a choked noise before, to BEN's complete shock, speaking painfully.

" _Yessss,"_ it hissed, glaring harshly at Slender.

Slender nodded and let it go, the Rake instantly taking to the trees in order to run off.

BEN dropped to the ground in relief, wiping the sweat from his face with his good hand. He saw Slender crouch next to him and take his broken hand, but he didn't feel anything due to the adrenaline still rushing through him.

"How did this happen?" Slender asked, gently pressing the swollen area around his wrist.

"Punched a tree," BEN muttered in answer, scowling at his hand and wrist.

Slender paused in his examination, his head lifting so that his blank face stared at him. His silence was incredulous, and it made BEN squirm in discomfort.

"You punched a tree? For what reason?" Slender asked, staring for a few more seconds before he went back to assessing the damage of BEN's arm.

"Was pissed about Kendra," he answered, her name causing a wrench of pain in his chest.

"Ah, now I understand. Very well, I'll need to take you home so I can start the process of repairing your arm."

BEN nodded, but said nothing. His arm had started to ache while Slender had talked, and he was a bit distracted by the dread of the agony his arm was going to be in when the adrenaline finally drained from his body.

Slender sighed, picking BEN up with ease and, wondering when his peaceful life of murder and housekeeping had all erupted in such emotional chaos, teleported home.


	29. Chapter 29

Jeff glared at his best friend, his hand tightening around the neck of the beer bottle in his hand. He'd been talking to EJ about what had happened the day before, and every time his friend insulted Kendra, his anger increased.

"Why are you getting so pissed? You don't usually care if I make fun of the whore's you bring home," EJ asked, his arms crossed as he leaned against the mantle of the fireplace behind him.

"Kendra isn't a whore," Jeff snapped, "she's better than that. Besides she's only seventeen."

"What's her age matter? I've seen sluts that are only like… fifteen, seventeen isn't that ridiculous of an age for that profession," EJ said, watching his friend while he tried to understand the change in him.

Jeff ground his teeth together, trying to calm his anger while at the same time trying to figure out how to explain to EJ what Kendra was to him in a way that would make the ass understand.

"Jeff, seriously. Why are you trying so hard to defend her? She's a stupid human who trusts way too easily. Before she found you in the kitchen, I'd been planning on harvesting her organs, and she didn't even question my inhuman appearance."

Hearing that his best friend had planned on killing Kendra and eating her insides made a surge of protective instinct rush forward. Without thinking, Jeff threw the beer bottle in his hand at EJ as hard as he could, the glass shattering against the wall when the other man dodged.

"Insult her again, I fucking dare you," Jeff growled, his chest heaving with his anger.

EJ didn't answer, he only stared at him with confusion and curiosity. What had gotten into his friend? He has never gotten so defensive over a human before, aside from his brother and that was only because Jeff loved him.

Suddenly EJ knew why Jeff was so upset.

"You love her."

It wasn't a question, but Jeff nodded anyway, "yeah, I do."

A moment of silence passed between the two, and Jeff sighed as his anger drained from him. He collapsed on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. He hadn't been ready for this conversation, and as a result he felt drained.

"Well that's new. I didn't know you could feel anything but bloodlust and anger," EJ said finally, making Jeff laugh loudly.

"Neither did I, actually. It's kind of why I came over," he explained, dropping his hand on the cushion next to him and looking over at Jack with a lopsided grin.

EJ snorted, "you only come over when you have a problem, it's like you only use me to help you figure shit out."

"That is exactly why I spend entire weeks with you drinking and fucking around, so I can use you for your superior intellect," Jeff shot back, earning another laugh.

"You finally admit that you're an idiot, has hell frozen over or something?" Jack teased, moving from his spot by the fireplace to sit on the La-Z-Boy chair positioned next to the couch.

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Nah, Kendra just had to reject me for me to realize I have an IQ of fucking zero."

EJ raised an eyebrow, though Jeff couldn't see it behind his mask.

"She rejected you? Damn, what did you do?"

"Hey, why do you assume I did something? What if she just doesn't want a relationship?" Jeff asked, being met with a silent stare from EJ.

"You really expect me to believe you didn't do something to piss her off?" EJ asked when Jeff didn't offer anything else.

Jeff sighed again, rubbing his face with both hands as if the action would erase all of the exhaustion and confusion and pain he was feeling.

"What happened, Jeff?" EJ prompted, his voice soft this time.

"I fucked up big time, Jack," he finally answered, staring at the grey carpeted floor.

"I got that part," EJ said, nodding, trying to get the other go into detail.

Jeff remained silent for a few minutes, just staring at the floor while he gathered his thoughts.

"Alright, you want to know what I did? Let me start from the beginning. First, I fucking killed her parents. I wanted a challenge, so I tried to do my usual routine without waking up the other and it didn't work so I had to give that up and I killed them both. But they woke her up and when I got her attention, she was so fiery and interesting. I wanted to… I wanted to _toy_ with her," Jeff started, remembering the night clearly.

"So you kidnapped her, I'm assuming?" EJ asked, earning a nod from Jeff.

"Yeah, I kidnapped her. Knocked her out and brought her back to the mansion. Had her for like two weeks before BEN let her out so basically tell on me. Slender decided to have her stay at the mansion as a punishment for me since he had told me before I wasn't allowed to kidnap anymore humans. So not only did I murder her parents, I'm the reason she got ripped away from her friends and pretty much the rest of her life," Jeff continued, guilt consuming him.

"Okay, but you're in love with her, Jeff. She had to have forgiven you for all that for you to be able to get to know her enough for that to happen."

Jeff gave an ugly, humorless snort. "Sure. Which is why she brought all of that back up yesterday, after I was the cause of BEN breaking up with her," he said, his tone heavy with sarcasm.

"Okay hold up, she was dating BEN? You hadn't mentioned that."

Jeff nodded. "Yeah, she was dating BEN, had been for a few months. But of course, I ruined that because of my stupid jealousy. I hadn't even known what the fuck I was feeling then."

"You do tend to act without thinking, it's why I call you an idiot," EJ said, picking at his black nails.

Jeff gave him a dry look, clearly not amused by the insult. His friend stopped messing with his nails to hold up his hands in mock surrender.

"I'm just saying, for someone who could rival me in the knowledge of the human body, you act like a bumbling fourteen year-old more often than not," he explained, dropping his hands in his lap.

"Yeah, I fucking got that, could you stop stating the obvious? I'm not _that_ stupid."

EJ shrugged, "if you say so. So, now that you know how you fucked up, and that you have these feelings for your fiery human, why are you hiding out here instead of going back to the mansion to fix your mistakes?"

Jeff paused, knowing the answer but not wanting to admit it out loud to his friend. He was scared. Jeff wanted so badly for Kendra to return his feelings, that he was scared he wouldn't be able to fix his mistakes before he added more on the mess and made his relationship with her impossible to repair. He was scared she'd never smile or laugh at him again, that he'd never get to hear her hum while she concentrated on something.

As if reading his thoughts, EJ nodded. "Yeah, I'd be scared too, but you're in too deep for you to keep hiding. I'll give you two more days to figure out a game plan, but after that, you have to go back to the mansion and un-fuck your fuck ups."

Jeff didn't answer, and EJ didn't wait for him to. He simply got up and left Jeff alone to his thoughts.


	30. Chapter 30

Toby glared at the redhead in front of him, the girl looking miserable and pale. Her hair was everywhere in the worst bedhead he'd ever seen, and the blanket wrapped around her shoulders did nothing to calm the shivering taking her over.

Kendra opened her mouth but before she could say a word, a coughing fit wracked her body. Toby did nothing to help her, wanting her to say whatever it was she wanted to say so he could go back to pouting and ignoring her.

"S-Sorry," she mumbled, her voice hoarse from the flu.

"Whatever, spit out what you want to say so I can go back to pretending you don't exist," Toby snapped, crossing his arms and leaning on one foot as his impatience grew.

Kendra frowned, once again wondering what the hell she did to get him to hate her so much.

Deciding not to worry about it for the time being, she cleared her throat.

"I want you to take me out into the forest to look for BEN," she said, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin, hoping the display of confidence would convince the other to do as she asked.

What she wasn't expecting was the all out laughter.

Startled, Kendra took a step back and stepped on her blanket, resulting in her tumbling backwards onto the floor. The laughter coming from Toby increased, and that combined with the pain in her back and the throbbing in her head from hitting the ground made Kendra start to cry.

Toby didn't even notice her tears, he was so busy laughing at the shocked expression on her face when she went down.

"Oh God! You expect me to actually help you? I can think of a million reasons why that makes you a fucking idiot," Toby said, still laughing as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Kendra stared up at him, her chin quivering and her vision blurred from the amount of tears. Hearing the insult pushed her stress over the edge, and Kendra began to sob. She buried her face in her hands, curling up the best she could in the empty hallway.

Toby rolled his eyes, not once believing that her tears were real. Since all she seemed interested in doing was blubbering, probably expecting pity from him, Toby decided to turn on his heel and attempt to find his way back to his room.

It felt like hours had passed by the time Kendra lifted her head. She wasn't expecting the bright light to be filtering in from the hallway windows, but a quick glance at a nearby clock told her it was only mid-afternoon.

Deciding to get up, Kendra gathered her blanket around her again and stood. She should have expected Toby to turn her down, but she hadn't expected him to start bullying her and it had pushed her over the edge.

So, she was now back to square one with her search for BEN, and it left her feeling hopeless. If she couldn't help in this one way, how could she prove to anyone that she was a part of this household, this family, just as much as the rest living here?

Except no one had questioned her right to live here but Toby, and she'd been trying to prove herself since before she had met him.

Kendra sniffled, her throat feeling worse after crying so hard for, she glanced at the clock again, half an hour. Sighing, Kendra moved back in the direction of the stairs, planning on waiting in the living room for Slender to come back and tell her if BEN was still lost or not.

She didn't need to wait, because when she hit the bottom step, Slender appeared in the living room a few feet ahead of her carrying BEN who was hissing at every jostle of his right arm.

"Benny!" Kendra shouted, dropping her blanket and rushing towards Slender to make sure that the elf was okay.

"Kendra?" BEN asked, twisting his head to get a good look at her.

"Oh God, are you okay?!" she asked, concern lacing her features.

"Am _I_ okay? You look like hell! How are you standing?" BEN asked, forgetting for the moment that he was pissed at her.

"I'll be fine, but your arm looks like it's the size of a full grown Boa, what the hell happened?"

BEN looked at his arm, yelping when Slender suddenly set him down.

"Kendra, what are you doing out of bed?" the blank-faced man asked, his voice sounding strained with worry that was weakly disguised by a scolding tone.

Kendra flinched, looking up at Slender with large, sad eyes. She stared at his face for a few seconds before looking at the floor, all while remaining silent.

Slender watched her behavior, then briefly looked into her thoughts to find out what was wrong. As soon as he was finished, a sigh escaped him. He would need to talk to Toby about his anger towards Kendra, but for now the girl needed comforting.

"Come here," he said softly, kneeling on the floor and opening his arms.

Kendra only glanced up before she was throwing herself into Slender's hug. As soon as she felt the comfort of his embrace, Kendra started to cry again.

BEN stared on in total confusion, wondering what had happened to make Kendra cry so hard. She was usually so strong, though she had been weakened by the breakup, so he guessed it would be easier to make her cry than normal.

"Uh… I hate to break up the hug, but my arm is still kind of broken," BEN spoke up, shifting his weight in discomfort.

Slender sighed and pulled from the hug, looking over Kendra's face and wiping her tears away.

"Go to bed, Kendra. Rest, and I'll be up there to talk to you when I'm done fixing BEN's arm," he instructed, relieved when Kendra nodded and started towards the stairs.

As soon as Kendra was out of sight, BEN spoke up again.

"What happened?" he asked, flinching when Slender grabbed his injured arm.

"Toby seems to be upset about Kendra's presence, and as a result he bullied her when she was requesting his help to find you," Slender explained, grabbing a pillow from the couch and setting it on the coffee table so he could set BEN's arm down on it.

BEN ground his teeth together. "I'm gonna punch him," he grumbled, earning a skeptical pause from Slender.

"You will not be punching anyone with your arm as it is," Slender said slowly, as if BEN had suffered from brain damage along with his shattered wrist.

BEN huffed, but didn't say anything as Slender stood to get the first aid kit and medical manual he would need to attempt to repair BEN's arm.

When Slender was out of sight and earshot of his charge, he let out a long, stress-filled sigh. So much had happened in the past year, and most of it filled with the emotional drama of the people he had taken in. It was almost enough to make him wish he lived alone again. Almost.

Slender started his walk up to his room, needing the time to think about thing and attempt to relieve some of the tension beginning to build in his shoulders. His earlier thought of living alone prompted some reminiscing of that time, hundreds of years ago.

The year 1649 had been a boring one, nothing truly interesting had happened, and Slender had been debating that year on ending his quiet time early just to have something to do that wasn't arguing with his brothers, who actually lived with him at the time, though they were rarely ever home.

It was also the year he had met _Her_. The only female human of that time to have openly preferred the male dominated arts and sciences. She had been considered a witch because of the preference, and as a result she fled into the forest he considered home.

Her name had been Althea, and Slender had found her picking berries from a Mulberry bush not far from his mansion. She had been easy to spot with her unusually bright blonde hair. It hadn't even been a wig that was so fashionable of her time, though she never could make sense of the fashions.

Slender felt the ghost of a smile where his mouth should have been, the bittersweet bliss he usually felt when he thought of Althea filling his chest as he opened the door to his bedroom.

Easily finding the manual in the nightstand next to his bed, Slender pushed the thoughts of his past love out of his mind so he could concentrate on the book. He opened the cover to find the Table of Contents, running his finger down the chapter titles until he found something that hinted at what he was looking for.

It only took him ten minutes of reading for Slender to realize that he'd need to call EJ for his assistance in aiding BEN, as Slender wouldn't have all that he needed at the mansion. He sighed, closing the book and putting it away before he ported back to the living room to tell BENjamin that he would need to stay where he was until Slender returned with Jack.

It took Slender all of twenty seconds to process that BEN wasn't where he left him, and on the pillow a note had been left.


	31. Chapter 31

_I kind of realized that you wouldn't be able to get this done on your own, so I decided to head out to Jack's._

 _-BEN_

Slender was going to kill him. He was not about to tolerate being disrespected like this. And no matter what BEN thought, this was disrespect. The elf had decided to undermine him, the leader of the household, the caretaker of all it's inhabitants, the damned father figure.

Slender crumpled the note in his hand and began to concentrate in order to find BEN's electrical energy. It was strong, and Slender found him easily. He ported, appearing directly in front of his charge, not bothering to make an effort to hide his anger.

BEN took a step back in fear, his arm in a sling made of strips from an old blanket that was usually kept under the coffee table in case of a new arrival. Slender found his anger rising at the fact that BEN deigned to destroy something of his.

"Tell me, BENjamin, what makes you think it is okay for you to not only rip the blanket we use for new arrivals, but to leave a note such as this one telling me you doubt my abilities to care for your injuries?" Slender asked, his voice tense and filled with barely controlled rage that made BEN flinch.

BEN swallowed, trying to think of something to say to explain himself that wouldn't upset Slender more. He knew he should've just stayed where he was, like Slender had asked, but no, he had to be an idiot. BEN seemed to be making stupid decisions left and right lately.

"I'm _waiting,"_ Slender snapped, the glare he couldn't give multiplied in his voice.

"I-I just thought that I would save you time and go to Jack's myself, ya know? I d-didn't mean to disrespect you or anything, I know you're capable of taking care of me, I mean you've been doing that for, like, ten years. But I also kinda remembered that the last time someone shattered their bone, you had to bring EJ into it."

Slender could understand BEN's reasoning, and once he had said he only wanted to make things easier on him, Slender's anger deflated. He sighed, rubbing his blank face as exhaustion settled over him.

"Very well. You were correct BEN, I did need Jack. But if this happens again, I would appreciate it if you would please stay where I tell you and wait for me to decide what I need to do in order to properly take care of you," he said, watching as BEN's face filled with relief.

"So… we're still going to Jack's?" BEN asked, fear no longer evident in his body language, though caution was there in plenty.

Slender sighed, taking a moment to debate between bringing Jack to the mansion and going to his home. It would probably be easier for the latter, since Jack would have everything he would need at his home, though he knew Jeffrey would be there and he didn't want a fight between him and BENjamin to break out with BEN's arm the way it was.

"Jeffrey is there, are you sure you want to go?" he asked, looking down at the blond.

BEN hesitated, but he really needed his arm fixed. Sure, he hated Jeff, but he supposed he could set that aside long enough to get the medical attention he needed before trying to pick a fight.

"No promises that I'll be able to hold back if he picks on me, but yeah. As long as he leaves me alone, I'll behave," BEN finally said, looking up at Slender with resolve setting his features into a determined expression.

Slender nodded and set his hand on BEN's shoulder, porting to Jack's home as soon as he had a good grip on the elf.

BEN stumbled as soon as Slender let go, not used to the dysphoria teleporting caused in him. At least this time his stomach wasn't trying to jump out through his throat. He put his hand on a tree trunk, trying to steady himself and make the dizziness in his head fade so he wouldn't bumble like a drunk towards the door.

"Are you alright BEN?" Slender asked, his hand going the other's shoulder once again.

BEN hesitated a moment, the vertigo beginning to fade. He waited until it was gone before he answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just not used to teleporting with you. I didn't even know you _could_ bring others with you when you did that," BEN said, straightening and giving a smile to Slender in an attempt to reassure him that he was okay.

Slender nodded, chuckling at BEN's statement. "Only when I have a firm hold on them," he said, patting the boy's shoulder before walking towards the front door.

Before either could knock, the door opened and EJ stepped out. He stopped when he saw the two of them, the door left open behind him. After a moment, EJ stopped staring at Slender and looked at BEN, his head dropping from BEN's face to his shattered arm in a sling.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," he groaned, then turned to re-enter his home, "wait there a sec, I have to warn Jeff so no one destroys my house."

BEN rolled his eyes when he heard shouting from within. Was Jeff really going to be like this when BEN had a shattered hand and wrist? Seriously?

EJ showed up again not long after the shouting stopped, though there was a loud slam coming from the back of the house.

"Alright, come in so I can take a look at the damage," Jack said, exasperation in his voice as he stepped aside to let BEN and Slender enter.

"Actually, I am going to leave BEN in your care, I need to go take care of a few others back at the mansion," Slender said, looking at the watch that barely fit his thin wrist.

EJ nodded, "alright then, I'll let you know now that because of how severe the swelling is, BEN will likely need to stay here a few days, possibly a few weeks depending on how bad the break is."

"Understood, just be sure to call me with updates on his health, he was attacked by the Rake when he was in the forest and he had to use the arm as a result," Slender said, waiting for Jack's nod before he finally ported back home.


	32. Chapter 32

In the hour Slender had been home, he had checked with Kendra to be sure she was asleep, gave three others their killing assignments, then started on dinner. He had been so busy lately that he'd barely been able to indulge in his cooking hobby, and Lord knew he needed the time to relax.

Slender stirred the pot of boiling fettuccini noodles, making sure they wouldn't stick to the bottom, and began to think on his past.

It had been a long time since he had let himself think Althea, refusing to dwell on the heartbreak for the last three hundred years. He hadn't wanted to deal with the pain of remembering her, but the romantic drama that surrounded him as of late made it difficult to push away the memory of her soft blonde hair and warm green eyes.

Slender kept switching back and forth on stirring the fettuccini noodles and the sauce to go with them while he used his tentacles to work on the rest of the meal as he remembered.

" _You don't know how to cook?" Slender asked incredulously, stirring the iron pot full of broth and the chopped meat of a cow he had found wandering the forest._

 _Althea shook her head and sighed, watching Slender's action curiously._

" _My mother died in childbirth and my father had plenty of money to hire a cook for us, and I wasn't allowed to be seen in the kitchen, lest the servants that helped her started to gossip about my curiosity," she explained, her eyes never leaving the pot._

 _Slender took in the information as he stirred, thinking quietly to himself. It wasn't rare for a female to not know hot to cook, but it wasn't common either. He supposed he had assumed she at least knew the basics of cooking due to her curious nature, but he hadn't thought that would be the very reason she_ didn't _know._

" _Would you like me to teach you?" Slender asked, pausing in his stirring so that the meat broth wouldn't soak into his wooden spoon and ruin it._

 _Althea brightened, the shine in her eyes returning as she let go of the memory of her father and replaced it with the hope of answering some of her many questions about what went on the kitchen._

" _Oh, would you? That would be so wonderful! I've always wanted to know what the utensils you use in here do and how you make certain foods."_

 _If Slender could smile, he would be beaming at the girl. She was so easy to please, and very excitable. It made the heart he didn't know he had thump rapidly in his chest to see her grin._

" _Of course, I would love to teach you. Though this pot is almost finished, so your lessons may have to wait until tomorrow," he said, his heart breaking at the disappointment in her eyes._

" _Oh, well I suppose that makes sense. We wouldn't want to make more food and end up wasting it all, now would we?" she said, smiling at Slender to show she was okay with waiting._

 _Slender chuckled, "no, we wouldn't. The stew is almost ready, would you like to help me set the table?"_

 _Althea nodded, standing from her seat on the floor. She brushed off her dress, then moved to the cupboards that held the bowls they would need in order to eat._

 _Slender watched her, wondering when he had let this girl he had been planning to kill once he no longer felt so lonely into his heart. Of course, he knew she didn't feel the same. Her thoughts never indicated otherwise, and he knew she longed to return home._

 _Althea had only shared his home for half a year, and yet here they were. Slender falling for her and Althea having no clue as she asked questions and continued to be fascinated by Slender's talents and abilities._

 _It was almost too painful to bear._

 _Slender hadn't realized he'd been staring until Althea spoke up._

" _Slenderman? Are you alright? You've been sitting there in silence for a while," she asked, concern lacing her features._

 _Slender nodded, knowing the smile he had was only a phantom feeling and not one that was visible to her. He patted her blonde head, chuckling at the pout of irritation the action had caused._

" _I'm alright, child. Have you finished setting the table?" he asked, looking at the table to see that it was indeed set._

" _Yes, I finished while you were dozing off," she answered, her tone teasing and her smile mischievously playful._

 _Slender chuckled again and grabbed one of the bowls to serve her. He would need to eat later, but he refused to do so in front of her, afraid the mouth he could use would terrify her with it's horrifying rows of fangs._

 _Althea observed him, tilting her head. The action told Slender that she was getting ready to ask a series of questions, though about what he wasn't sure. His ability to read minds was new, something he had only begun developing recently from the old magick books he kept below the house._

" _Slenderman-"_

" _Althea, we've lived together for six months, surely you can call me something a bit less formal?" Slender interrupted, putting the now full bowl back on the table for the blonde._

 _Althea smiled, "right, of course. Slender, I have been wondering; since we have been living together for a while, as you had said, would it be alright if I asked you some questions I have about you?"_

 _The question made Slender pause, being careful to consider her request. If he allowed it, she might ask something he wasn't ready to give her the answer to. After all, it was a miracle she hadn't been terrified of his appearance when they had first met, scared sure, but her curiosity had ruled over any fear she had had at the time._

" _You may ask, Althea, but you must understand that what you ask, I may not answer. Whether the reason be because I do not know, or because I do not wish to share the information with you, I ask that you please not push me to answer if I do choose not to answer," he said, wording his request carefully to give her little reason to refuse._

Slender sighed to himself, turning the heat off for the noodles and preparing to drain them so he could put the sauce in the pot with them. That day had been… pleasant until she started asking her questions. Most of them had been about him and his anatomy and how he functioned from day to day. Most of her questions had been easy to answer, and she respected that he hadn't wanted to show her his mouth, but then she had asked how old he was…

 _Slender paused at the question, having been cleaning the kitchen while she asked her questions since she had finished her dinner a while ago._

" _I do not think you want to know," he said, sighing._

" _But I do!" Althea exclaimed in excitement, nodding in exaggerated enthusiasm, "I want to know absolutely everything about you!"_

 _Slender looked at her, examining her features and debating whether or not it was a good idea to tell her._

 _Hesitantly, he spoke, "my first memory is from the year 1514."_

 _Althea was silent, her eyes moving back and forth as she did the math._

" _But...that would mean you are over one hundred years old," she said quietly, her eyes wide as she stared at him._

" _I am," Slender confirmed, nodding._

 _Silence filled the air as Althea processed the information. Slender didn't return to his cleaning like he normally would, instead watching the girl to see how she would react once she accepted his age._

" _You said… you said your first_ memory _is from that year, does that mean you were created? Or were you born and simply don't have any memory of the years before?" Althea asked, though the last question seemed to be her simply thinking aloud._

" _I do not know, I only remember is waking in a forest as I am now, though with different clothes since I do like to try and keep up with the fashions of the time I am living in._

 _Althea nodded, though Slender doubted she really heard him. Her face was drawn, her brows knitted together in concentration as she thought._

 _Slender wondered what she was thinking, though he dared not intrude. He didn't see now as a time to practice his empath ability._

 _Suddenly, Althea spoke, "You have said before that if you refrain from doing a certain action for a certain amount of time-"_

" _Althea, I said I wasn't going to-"_

" _Tell me what it is, yes I know, now let me finish. As I was saying, you said that if you do not do this action, you grow weak and you suspect if you continue not to do it, you will die. What if this action is the reason you are so old? And what if the first time you did this action before you were as you are now had caused a change in you of some kind?" Althea theorized, chewing her lip when she finished talking._

 _Slender considered her words, tapping the wooden handle of the broom with his long fingers while he thought. She had a point. Every time he killed a new victim, he felt better, fresher, younger. It was as if he absorbed the remaining life force of whoever he killed. The younger the victim, the more life he was given._

" _But people have murdered before, why is it that only me and my brothers have been turned into what we are?" he muttered, too used to being alone when he thought this deeply that he forgot Althea was there, remaining unusually silent until she heard what he had said._

" _Murdered?" she asked, the fear Slender thought she had long ago abandoned sneaking into her voice, making it rise in pitch._

 _Slender straightened, his grip on the wooden handle of the broom tightening._

" _Slenderman, you've murdered?" Althea asked, her voice growing stronger, though he could still hear the fear hidden within._

" _Never you mind, I think I'm done with your questions for tonight, Althea. Why don't you go get yourself ready to sleep? I'll bring you your chamomile tea as soon as I'm finished here," Slender said, hoping the panic he felt at his mistake wasn't easily read by the blonde._

 _For a moment, Slender feared she wouldn't do as he asked and remain in the kitchen to pester him to answer her question, and for that same moment she seemed to consider doing just that. But instead she nodded tersely and returned to the bedroom she had picked._

 _When Slender had entered the room to bring her the tea, the window was open and Althea was gone._


	33. Chapter 33

Jeff paced the forest floor, going about three feet in one direction before he turned and went back to where he began, then starting the process all over again. He needed to think, and the movement helped him clear the anger and frustration from his mind.

How _was_ he supposed to fix his mistakes? He couldn't just apologize, that wouldn't really make Kendra feel any better, though it might help in getting her to forgive him for royally fucking up her life.

Jeff sighed, running a pale hand through his coarse hair and pausing in his stride. Damn it, why couldn't he have just picked a different house that night? Killed someone else who lived alone like he normally would've rather than seeking out a challenge to sate his boredom?

Of course, if he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have met Kendra and he'd still be just bored and lonely as before.

Jeff forced out a humorless laugh, wondering when the hell he'd gotten so lonely. He'd lived at the mansion for years, and he was always surrounded by others like him. But he'd never really connected with anyone but EJ and maybe Toby. Maybe.

Jeff didn't even understand _why_ he was so attached to Kendra in the first place. When he'd initially kidnapped her, it was because he thought she was funny in her anger and refusing to give in to the fear she had admitted she felt. He had wanted to break her, wanted to break the spirit that made her so strong. In the end, she had been the one who had broken _him_.

Jeff laughed at himself, shaking his head and resuming his pacing. He had to keep moving, had to keep trying to figure out what would break Kendra out of her slump. Had to get his little rose to forgive him.

Rose.

Jeff stopped abruptly, grinning as he finally figured out how to at least apologize to her and make her smile again.

With a triumphant whoop, Jeff took off into the woods.

Kendra woke to the smell of something sweet, like the garden of flowers her mom used to keep in their backyard. She sat up, rubbing her eyes as she attempted to wake up fully so she could investigate the smell.

Kendra yawned, stretching her arms above her head, not feeling nearly as miserable as she did before she went to sleep. Dropping her arms, Kendra opened her eyes and looked at the wall ahead of her sleepily.

It took her sleep addled brain about a minute to realise she was staring at bushels of red roses, all stacked together to look as if her wall was made of the flowers. Kendra gasped, throwing the blanket off of her legs and turning to slide off of her bed only to see that her _entire room_ was full of roses.

"Oh my God," she said breathlessly, awed by the beautiful sight surrounding her.

Who could've done this? Who could've snuck into her room to do this quietly enough not to wake her up? It definitely wasn't BEN, he was too clumsy to avoid disturbing her sleep, not to mention too short to reach the height some of the stacks were built up to.

Kendra stood, going to the roses piled on her dresser, the flowers placed on her stuffed animals resting there as if the toys themselves were giving them to her. She smiled, picking up a rose that rested on the paws of a stuffed cat, and brought the petals to her face so she could breathe deeply and take in the wonderful scent of the blossom.

The smell brought her back to a time when she would spend hours with her mom in the garden, pulling out weeds and trimming dead leaves and watering to keep the flowers healthy and vibrant. A time before Kendra was too busy being with her friends and working on school and going to the part time job she had a little book store to spend time with her mom in that little sanctuary the older woman had spent the better half of Kendra's life building.

Kendra pulled the rose from her face, tears already spilling down her cheeks in response to the memories. She turned, sitting on the floor with her back against the dresser so she could get a good view of the rest of the roses surrounding her, not bothering to dry the tears that continued to fall.

"They were supposed to make you smile, not cry," a voice said, coming from the door.

Kendra jumped, her head whipping to the left to see her door open and Jeff leaning against the frame; a sheepish, apologetic smile was on his face. She continued watching him, even when he straightened and walked to where she was sitting, crouching in front of her.

Jeff reached out and wiped the tears from her face with his thumb, sighing when Kendra got ahold of her senses and pushed his hand away and her wide, surprised eyes narrowed into a glare.

"What do you want?" she snapped, her hold on the rose's stem tightening into a fist.

Jeff watched her for a few moments, then shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"I wanted to apologize for hurting you. What I did was wrong and stupid, I was selfish with how much I wanted you and I acted without thinking about how my actions would cause harm to not just BEN, but you as well."

Kendra's glare shifted back into an expression of surprise. His apology sounded sincere, and he had obviously thought about it a lot to be able to go so in depth about how he had fucked up. She would have to be a major bitch to not at least consider forgiving him.

"...I accept your apology, Jeff," she said quietly, her fist around the rose loosening as she looked at it's soft petals instead of his pale face.

"Thank you," Jeff said, smiling in relief and finally sitting on the floor out of his crouch.

"But I need you to know it's going to be a while before I'm able to forgive you enough to be your friend again," she continued, not wanting to give Jeff the idea that he was completely off the hook for hurting her.

Jeff frowned, but nodded anyway, "yeah, I get that. I really messed up this time around. And uh… sorry about the roses, I thought you'd like them cause I always see you staring at the flowers you find around the house and then there's your rose hair and my nickname for you…" Jeff rambled, glancing away and not looking at her.

"It's okay, Jeff. I love the roses. I was crying because they reminded me of my mom," she explained, giving a tentative smile and reaching over to pat the boy's knee in consolation.

Jeff sighed in relief, returning the redhead's smile gratefully. He stood, looking around at all the flowers and realizing that he may have gone a bit overboard when he picked through Offenderman's garden. Hopefully the bastard wouldn't notice and Jeff could get away scot free.

"Where did you even get all these?" Kendra asked, only to frown in confusion when Jeff gave her a guilty grin.

"Uh, well I couldn't exactly get them from town cause that's about a three day walk from here so-"

A roar sounded somewhere in the forest, interrupting Jeff and making Kendra jump.

"What was that?" Kendra asked, standing to go to her window and try to find the source.

"I gotta go… do something. I'll see you around, right?" Jeff asked, a thrill of adrenaline rushing through him when he recognized the direction of the roar.

"Well… yeah. We live in the same house, but Jeff, what was that? Where did you get the roses?" Kendra asked, turning to face him in complete confusion.

"I'll have to tell you _that_ another time, for now I gotta run," Jeff said, his grin growing wider before taking off.

Kendra stared after him, then shook her head when she realized that the dolt had probably stolen them from someone and gotten himself in trouble. She couldn't help but smile at his troublemaking tendencies, glad that he had gone through so much trouble to apologize to her.


	34. Chapter 34

EJ sighed when BEN gave another yelp of pain. Honestly, he thought the kid had a greater tolerance for pain than this. He'd been trying to treat BEN's broken hand for a few hours now, and he had finally managed to set the break in his radius.

"Damn it, BEN, if you don't want me to mess your arm up more you'd stay still and _stop fucking screaming_ ," EJ snapped, the most recent shout of pain being from EJ taking a scalpel to the blond's broken wrist so he could assess the damage and rebuild the bones there.

"Well _sorry_ if you won't use some fucking numbing!" BEN snapped back, glaring at the blue mask that hid EJ's face.

"Does my basement _look_ like I have the equipment I need to numb your whole fucking arm?" EJ said, setting the scalpel down on the tray holding the rest of his equipment.

BEN frowned, glancing at the dark concrete surrounding them. EJ had reassured him that the place was sterile, courtesy of Slender, and wouldn't cause any infection in BEN's arm when he got to work.

"Why don't you have the equipment with you?" BEN asked, making EJ pause.

"Because while Slenderman was able to provide a sterile place for me to work, I had to get the equipment myself. Haven't gotten the money to buy the shit I need," he answered, then picked up the scalpel and began to cut into BEN's arm again before he could ask any more questions.

BEN hissed in pain, clenching the armrest with his good hand. He tried to keep himself from screaming this time, though the agony shooting through his arm with each cut of the scalpel made it difficult.

"Why can't-" BEN swallowed when EJ seemed to press harder with the blade, wanting to finish his question, and continued, "why can't you just kill a doctor or raid a hospital or something? It's not like we're tied down by the law."

EJ sighed, choosing not to answer for several long beats of silence while he worked. It wasn't until BEN stopped restraining from voicing his pain that he decided to answer to keep the kid quiet.

"Because while you guys don't give a shit about the law, I still have a conscience. Before I turned into what I am now, I was a twenty-something college student, well on his way to earning his PhD. Then I was kidnapped and experimented on and tortured until I looked like this, and all I could stomach was beer, human organs, and cinnamon. I'm not going to raid a hospital BEN, not when there are people there who could die if they don't get what they need," EJ explained, sighing in relief when he finally reached the messed up bones of the elf's wrist.

BEN went quiet at the explanation, letting the information sink in and clenching his jaw to avoid crying out in pain as EJ prepared to rebuild the bones.

BEN didn't know Jack as well as Jeff did, though that was more because BEN preferred to avoid Jeff as much as possible. The two clashed a lot, and BEN hated fighting with others, mostly because he wasn't really a fighter himself.

BEN winced when EJ tugged a bone piece free from his flesh and set it on some gauze with a few others, looking away from the sight when his stomach lurched. He wished he had gone straight home when he punched that tree, because it was clear that by waiting he had made the problem much, much worse.

Jeff crouched in a tree, his hand clamped over his mouth to muffle the sound of his breathing as well as to hide the grin. He hadn't pulled a prank in a long time, and while stealing roses from Offender's garden wasn't _really_ a prank, the turnout was the same.

He'd been running for a good twenty minutes, glad that Slender's brothers didn't share some of his abilities. He knew Offender would eventually find him, especially since the man himself was storming underneath the tree Jeff was hiding in at that very moment.

"Jeff, you prick, come out! I will _gut you_ for touching my garden!" Offender shouted, rage echoing through the forest.

Jeff shook his head, knowing that Slender would stop Offender before any serious harm was done, though he would probably let Jeff get a bit roughed up first as punishment for the prank.

Offender growled in anger and irritation, storming in a different direction to continue his search for Jeff, unknowingly leaving the subject of his anger behind.

Jeff waited ten minutes, making sure Offender was gone before he snickered and climbed out of the tree. So far, Offender has never caught Jeff when he pulled a prank on him and Jeff doubted that would start now.

" _Want me to lead him farther away?"_ a hissing voice said, and Jeff looked up to find the Rake, or Rowtag as he preferred, sitting on a branch of the tree next to the one Jeff had been hiding in.

"Nah, he's too stupid to come back and double check. What's up Rowtag? I didn't think you'd be this close to the mansion since you almost ate BEN," Jeff asked, leaning against his tree with a lazy, lopsided grin.

" _I have information for Slenderman,"_ Rowtag said, though he gave a low, hissing growl of irritation at the reminder of the event.

"Yeah? What kind of info?"

Rowtag shook his head, his dead eyes flitting around before they returned to Jeff.

" _I cannot say, Slenderman may not wish for you to know,"_ he said, making Jeff frown.

"Seriously? You haven't even told him yet, what's the harm in telling me first?" he asked, his curiosity piqued. Rowtag rarely bothered to keep anything from Jeff, the Wendigo seeing no sense in keeping petty secrets.

" _There is much harm if I told you first, Jeffrey. I must tell Slenderman before I tell anyone else."_

Jeff's mouth pressed into a firm a line, but nodded. Rowtag was stubborn, and once he decided to do something there was no point in arguing against it. He would have to wait and see if Slender would tell him when Rowtag passed the info along.

"Alright, then I'll see you around. Try not to eat anybody this time," Jeff teased, grinning mischievously at the glare Rowtag shot him in response.

" _Try not to fuck anybody this time,"_ he snapped back, wiping the grin from Jeff's face.

Jeff glared at the wendigo, earning a splitting smirk full of fangs from the monster.

"Just go tell Slender whatever it information you have, before we get in a fight and wreck the trees and piss off more than one Slender brother," he snapped, making Rowtag give a low cackle before moving through the trees with effortless grace.

Jeff grumbled and turned, walking further into the forest with no other purpose than to get away from the assholes that have been causing him so many problems lately.

Slender sensed Rowtag approaching before the wendigo appeared large window of his bedroom. He knew the Algonquin preferred to be in high areas and to avoid the sight of others who hadn't seen him yet.

"What is it, Rowtag?" Slender asked, gently closing the book he had been reading through on his finger to save his spot.

" _I have some important information I thought you might like to know,"_ he said, climbing into the room and looking around.

Rowtag had never been in this room before, preferring the comfort and cover of the forest over the rooms of the mansion. Of course, Slenderman had told him that his room was on the very top floor a long time ago, when Rowtag had first become what he was now.

"Is that so? Very well, you have my attention," Slender said, indicating for Rowtag to continue with what information he had.

" _Something inhuman has been venturing into the forest that I do not recognize,"_ Rowtag began, his scratching, hissing voice filling the room.

"Surely that is normal? Since you failed to recognize BEN when he was in the forest the other day," Slender said, impervious to the glare Rowtag shot his way.

" _I had been starving, and BEN was in his human form. You know my eyesight isn't the best, Slenderman, I had smelled a human and I reacted. I was too focused on my hunger to think clearly,"_ Rowtag growled, his anger making him restless. He needed to find something to climb before he began to scratch up the expensive rug beneath his claws.

Slender sighed, recognizing Rowtag's restlessness and gestured towards walls. He could easily fix them if the wendigo decided to dig his claws in them, but he could not fix the fine rug.

Rowtag gratefully clambered up the walls, taking a few minutes to find a comfortable position to talk to Slender in.

" _As I was saying, this inhuman presence seems ancient and powerful. The first time I had felt it, I had thought it was you, but there was an underlying evil that made me afraid to leave my trees. It had malice, Slenderman,"_ Rowtag continued, shivers running across his mottled skin as he remembered the terrifying power that presence had.

Slender thought for a few moments, tapping his fingers lightly on the cover of his book. This could prove to be a problem, especially if there was another like him and his brothers.

"How long have you been sensing this presence? Have you seen who or what it was?" Slender inquired, looking up at Rowtag as he made himself comfortable in the chandelier. The wendigo had experience moving in the trees without moving a single branch, so Slender wasn't worried that the light fixture would break.

" _I've been feeling it for a few months, but each time I had been too afraid to move from my hiding place to be able to look for the source of the power,"_ Rowtag answered, more comfortable in the chandelier than he was on the walls.

Slender nodded, concerned for the people he looked after if Rowtag, a being only a few hundred years younger than Slender, was too afraid to confront the intruder. He would have to figure out how to deal with this new threat, but it wouldn't be easy if they were really as powerful as Rowtag was saying.

"Thank you, Rowtag. Is there anything else you need to tell me about this threat?" Slender asked, reaching for his bookmark and sliding it into place.

Rowtag hesitated before nodding, " _I think it is hunting us. With each new appearance, it has gotten closer and closer to this part of the forest. It never stays longer than a few hours, but it appears every day."_

Slender cursed silently, standing from his chair so that he could pace while he thought. If Rowtag's suspicions were true, then the threat was bigger than Slender thought. He couldn't allow the people he had come to think of as his children to be harmed. Not when he had gone so long with being alone save for the very few visits from his brothers.

"Where has this presence been appearing?" Slender asked, fear and worry making his tone sharper and angrier than he intended.

Rowtag shook his head, " _I cannot say a specific area, as it is a new spot every day, but each appearance has been to the southwest of the mansion."_

That was the direction of Jack's cottage. Slender cursed again, loudly this time, at the danger EJ and BEN were now in. He would have to bring the two back, keep them in the mansion until the threat was disposed of.

"Has the presence arrived today?" Slender asked, his pacing increasing in speed the more worried he got about his patrons.

" _No. That is why I have come to you today. The hours in which it normally appears have come and gone, and there was no sign of the presence. I fear it has found one of us."_

"Why haven't you told me of this threat sooner?" Slender asked, turning his head up to give Rowtag an invisible glare.

Rowtag hesitated again before answering, " _I didn't figure out that it was getting closer to the mansion until today while I was waiting for it to appear. I came as soon as I realized it."_

Slender rubbed a hand over his head, panic and fear for the others shooting through him. They were all in danger, and Slender had to figure out how to protect them. He wasn't going to allow any harm to come to them.

"If you have nothing else to tell me, Rowtag, I want you to gather those you know are not already in the mansion and bring them here. Once you are finished, you are to keep watch in the section of forest where this presence frequents and bring me regular updates."

Rowtag frowned, not liking that he would have to keep watch but understand that Slenderman would want updates while someone remained in the mansion to protect everyone else. He nodded, then removed himself from the chandelier and left the room through the window.

Slender continued to pace the floor, his brow furrowed as he thought of possible strategies to keep the others safe. He was going to protect them or die trying. He only wished he knew exactly what he was up against...


	35. Chapter 35

Kendra finally finished cleaning up the roses, wiping away the sweat on her forehead with her arm, looking at the five massive garbage bags full of the flowers. She didn't really want to throw them away, especially since they had been such a sweet apology gift, but they would wilt soon and make a bigger mess of her room if she didn't get rid of them now.

The tiny girl sighed, shaking her head at how overboard Jeff had gone. Did he really have to fill up her _entire room_? It was ridiculous! One or two bouquets probably would have been fine. Kendra giggled at the thought, tapping one bag with her foot before picking two up and starting to lug them outside. They'd be better used as compost in the garden Slender has in the back.

She began humming as she started to dump the roses in the compost pit, too distracted by her task to notice the eyes watching her from the trees.

Now finished with dumping the bags, Kendra grabbed the hose resting nearby and sprayed water over the flowers. They would need the moisture to decompose, and it was a hot day so she enjoyed having some of the spray hit her face. Once she felt satisfied that the roses were properly soaked, she put away the hose and made her way back into the house. She should figure out what to do with the rest of the roses, since those two bags alone had almost completely filled the compost pit.

As the girl moved out of sight, the figure hiding just behind the tree line grew a feral grin. She had found her prey, after many long years of hunting, and it would appear that he had taken in a new toy for him to play with. Clearly he wasn't satisfied with just killing anymore.

Of course, she had never been satisfied with just killing. Not when the screams of her tortured victims were just as pleasurable as seeing their mangled corpses when she had finished with them. Not only that, but with each tortured soul she had gained more power. Simply killing with mercy had only extended her life.

Now she had found the man she had been hunting since her power had reached past what she had remembered him to have, though he had never shown her much.

Chuckling maliciously, the figure turned on her heel and started in the direction of where she had been making her stay the past few months, seeming to disappear after only walking a few paces into the forest.

Kendra coughed harshly, still recovering from the flu that had taken over her body not long ago. She cleared her throat when she was able to breathe again, pausing to make sure the fit had really passed before she continued on to the top floor.

Kendra had decided to ask Slender if he wanted the flowers, knowing the inhuman man had a tendency to find use in just about anything based on some of the rooms she had stumbled upon when she was exploring the mansion. One of them had a beautifully made bottlecap chandelier, another had curtains made of jean pockets. Of course, that could be due to the tastes of the inhabitants since her own room had nothing like that, but since those particular rooms didn't exactly look lived in, she doubted it.

When Kendra finally reached the top floor, she was out of breath. What house needed twelve stories? Shaking her head, Kendra paused at the top of the stairs to regain her breath before moving towards the door that lead to Slender's room.

She was about to knock before she heard Slender shouting on the other side. Curious, Kendra pressed her ear to the door to try and make out what was being said. It sounded like a one sided conversation, telling her that Slender was probably on the phone.

"I do not _care_ if you prefer to take on the dangers yourself, Jack! You will not be able to stand up to this threat if what I was told is true, and I will not have you killed because of your bullheaded desire to continue living on your own!"

Threat? What could Slender be talking about? Kendra frowned at what she had heard, but remained quiet in hopes that Slender would explain more to the person on the phone.

"Yes, Jack, I am afraid. Rowtag told me that the threat he had been sensing the last few months has powers similar in strength to my own. The safest option is for you and anyone else who is living on their own to come to the mansion and live here until the threat has been taken care of."

Kendra's brows furrowed, wondering what threat could possibly scare someone like Slender, someone who has shown incredible power throughout the year she has lived here.

The thought of how long she had lived here brought the month to her attention. Kendra's birthday was coming up again. She would be eighteen in a few weeks, and it sounded like the house would be full during that time because of a possible danger to them all. It was no time for her to bring it up.

Suddenly the door opened, and Kendra stumbled into Slender with a yelp of surprise. Slender gave a halfhearted chuckle, but Kendra could feel how tense he was. The air surrounding him felt off, and Kendra could see how his fists kept opening and closing, as if he was wishing he could just punch the looming danger to make it go away.

"I've finished my phone call if you wish to stop eavesdropping and speak to me," he said, forcing a light, teasing tone that Kendra saw through pretty easily.

"I'm sorry, you were yelling and I got-"

"I am not upset, Kendra. I understand that you were curious, and you deserve to know about the danger that has been discovered. Ask any questions you have," Slender said, patting the girl's head before stepping back into his room so he could relax in his chair.

Kendra bit her lip, stepping into the room hesitantly. She appreciated the chance to satisfy her curiosity, but did she really want to know more about something that scared even Slender himself?

Slender watched Kendra, his stress draining the energy he usually had extensively. He wished he knew more about this threat, wished he knew how to fight it so he wouldn't be so damned terrified for the safety of those he's been taking care of.

"Why are you so scared of whatever this thing is that's threatening us?" Kendra finally asked, her voice quiet as her own fear made it difficult for her to maintain her usual confidence.

Slender tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, then gestured for Kendra to climb into his lap. It was rare he actually acted on his fatherly instincts, but Kendra was human and without a father of her own. He trusted she wouldn't spread his unusual behavior to the others and he needed her comfort as much as she needed his.

Kendra climbed up without hesitating, shifting to make herself comfortable before leaning against Slender's chest while he slowly rubbed her back in a soothing gesture. She waited patiently for Slender to answer her, taking great comfort in Slender's paternal actions.

"I am afraid because I do not know what the threat is, but I do know that it holds great power-power that matches my own in strength," Slender explained, stopping the circular rubbing on Kendra's back to wrap his arm around her waist in a hug-though he did move his thumb slowly back and forth in a smaller reassuring gesture.

Kendra bit her lip, taking in the information. If this power, whatever it was, was as strong as Slender's, what exactly were they supposed to do? It seemed pointless to just be sitting ducks in the mansion, all gathered in one space and thus a bigger, easier to hit target.

"Kendra, I don't want you to tell the others about what you have learned today," Slender said suddenly, snapping Kendra out of her train of thought.

"What?" Kendra asked, her brows knitting together as she looked at Slender in confusion.

Slender sighed, rubbing his free hand across the space where his eyes were meant to be before he began to explain his reasoning.

"If BEN or Jeff or anyone else found out, they would refuse to remain at the mansion where they are safe. They'll want to go out into the forest to confront the danger themselves, and they'll get hurt in doing so. I have told you because I trust that you won't do something rash and get yourself killed trying to get rid of something that no one knows anything about," he said, giving the redhead a pleading look she could feel but not see.

Kendra looked at her lap, remaining silent for several long moments before she nodded. She would do as Slender asked.

Slender's shoulders slumped in relief, a small load of stress lifted from his mind. He trusted Kendra, and he knew she would keep her word.

"Thank you. Now, what was it that you had originally come up here for?" he asked, too tired for his mind reading ability to be automatic.

Kendra gave a dry smile, the question of what to do with the roses seeming to be a trivial matter now.

"I have three garbage bags in my room all full with roses, I was wondering if you would want to do something with them," she answered, her eyes remaining on her on her lap as she began to pick at her nails.

Slender chuckled, moving his hand from Kendra's waist so he could ruffle her rose colored hair.

Kendra looked up, frowning as she fixed her hair when his hand returned to her waist.

"What was that for?" she asked, running her fingers through her curls to try and get some of the knots out.

"Nothing. You know we have a compost pit, yes?" Slender asked, leaning his head against his closed fist while he waited for Kendra's answer.

"Yeah, I knew that, but I've already put two bags of roses in there and it's almost completely full now because of it."

Slender nodded, thinking for a moment before he remembered the thought that had alerted him to Kendra's presence came to mind.

"When exactly is your birthday?" Slender asked, slowly coming up with a vague idea of what could be done to celebrate, despite the danger they would likely be in. It would be good for everyone to have something else to focus on.

"July tenth, why?" Kendra asked, wondering why Slender had brought the subject up.

"Don't worry about that, child. Would you be willing to take care of a few chores for me? I have something I need to do, but there are things here that need to be cleaned."

"Yeah, sure. I've been mostly sleeping lately anyway cause I have nothing else to do, so I don't have a problem with it. What do you need me to do?" Kendra asked, tilting her head at Slender curiously. It would be nice to have something to do for once.

"The laundry needs to be done and the living room cleaned. Once you are done with those, if you're up for it I would appreciate it if you cleaned and organized the library on the third floor. It hasn't been used in too long and I haven't had the time lately to get to it," Slender explained, gently lifting Kendra from his lap so he could stand.

Kendra nodded, yawning as she stretched her arms above her head. She'd been sleeping too much lately, it would be good for her to be productive.

"I can handle that, no guarantee that the library will get done today, though," Kendra warned, giving Slender a bright smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Of course, I understand. Now if you would go get started for me? As I said, I have business to attend to," Slender said, urging Kendra to leave the room.

Kendra nodded again, turning back towards the door, pausing and looking at Slender over her shoulder when he called her name again.

"Would you ask Jeff to escort Toby up here please? Toby will get lost without someone to follow," Slender requested, giving an invisible smile when Kendra nodded in accommodation.

"Yep! You know where he is?"

Slender took a moment to concentrate. His stress and exhaustion may have made reading the minds of others difficult, but he has always been able to sense electrical signatures, no matter how weak he felt.

"He is in the forest, about twenty meters to the north. Tell him that Toby is in the vegetable section of my garden, if you would."

Kendra nodded again, then left the room and closed the door behind her with a soft click.

Slender nodded to himself, his plans for Kendra's birthday next week blooming in his mind. He was going to need plenty of help from his brothers as well, but now was the perfect time to assure Toby that he had no reason to dislike Kendra and that he wasn't being forgotten.

He had a lot of work to do.


	36. Chapter 36

EJ pressed the _end call_ button harshly, glaring at his phone in agitation. He couldn't believe that after ten years of living on his own, Slender was making him leave the comfort of his cabin.

"What was that about?" BEN asked, raising a blond eyebrow at EJ as he paced the basement floor.

EJ shoved his phone in his pocket, shaking his head as he moved and thought. He _couldn't_ leave home, not when Seedeater wasn't back from his hunt for hikers. Of course, he could just send BEN off once EJ was sure the arm was healing properly, but Slender would probably come and get him and force him to come to the mansion.

"Damn it, old man," EJ grumbled, ignoring BEN's questioning look.

"Seriously, Jack, what's going on? Why does Slender want you at the mansion?" BEN asked, grateful when EJ finally stopped pacing. Watching one of the most levelheaded people he knew be so restless and irritated was setting his own nerves on edge.

"Apparently there's something in the woods that's hunting us and had Slender scared out of his mind that we're gonna get killed," EJ explained, sighing while thoughts on what to do raced through his mind.

BEN paled, wondering what could have _Slender_ , the most powerful thing in these woods, afraid for their lives. If Slender was afraid, then surely they should do as he asked, why would EJ even consider wanting to stay where he couldn't be protected?

"If Slender's scared, I'm out. If you're really as smart as Jeff says you are, as you claim to be, you would come with me instead of waiting here like a sitting duck during hunting season," BEN said, ignoring EJ's scoff as he grabbed his shirt.

EJ watched as BEN struggled to get his shirt on, the pain in his healing arm making excessive movement difficult.

"You should wait here with me so I can be sure your arm is healing right. If you leave now, there is no way I'll be sure that there won't be any infection and not only that but if you move your arm too much, my hard work might get messed up and a piece of bone could lodged into your flesh," EJ said, crossing his arms and making no move to stop the elf.

"Then come with me, but otherwise? I'm going to risk the infection _and_ my wrist breaking again if it means I can avoid whatever is scaring Slender," BEN replied, wincing after he finally got his shirt on.

EJ scowled behind his mask, shaking his head at BEN's stupidity. Fine, if the asshole wanted to fuck up all of his hard work, he wasn't going to stop him; but EJ was determined to stay right where he was and face this danger head on whether Slender liked it or not.

BEN moved to climb the stairs, hesitating when he reached the bottom step and looked back at EJ in concern.

"Look, you're Jeff's friend, and while I hate him, you seem like a pretty cool guy and you have helped Jeff not make as many fuck ups since he met you. So here's some advice from me to you, don't do this. Come back to the mansion and stay safe so you can live another day and tell Jeff when he's fucking up and give me some peace of mind."

EJ said nothing, only stood where BEN had left him and pretending as if the elf hadn't spoken at all. BEN sighed, shook his head, then climbed the stairs and left the house. He could only hope Jack changed his mind about what he was doing before it got him killed.

Slender looked up when he heard Toby's panicked thoughts and Jeff's irritable mind from his doorway. He chuckled at Jeff's glare, shaking his head.

"You can go now, Jeffery, just do not leave the perimeter of the clearing. There is too much danger in the forest now for you to be wandering aimlessly out of sight."

Jeff rolled his eyes, then turned on his heel to leave. The boy remained silent, though his thoughts were less than pleasant, angry that his freedom had been limited.

Slender shook his head, then turned to Toby. He pat the boy's head, trying to reassure him that he was not in trouble.

"No need to be so panicked, Tobias, I only wish for your assistance in setting up a surprise party," Slender explained, waiting for Toby's shoulders to relax before returning to his massive closet to look for decorations.

"A party? For who?" he asked, walking into the closet himself and striding towards a shelf Slender had assumed was full of shoes with purpose.

"That is also a surprise," Slender said, thinking it wise not to tell Toby that it was for Kendra as he watched him uncover a box to expose colorful paper streamers.

Toby stopped, turning to look at Slender with a frown.

"It's for Kendra, isn't it?" he asked, knowing that Slender wouldn't try that with him if it were anybody else.

Slender hesitated, then sighed and nodded.

"Yes, it is for Kendra," he said, crossing his arms and leaning back against a wall while he watched Toby's face.

Toby scoffed, then forcefully replaced the lid. However, instead of putting away the box and storming out of the room like Slender expected, he shoved the box in Slender's arms and continued to take out the decorations.

"You could've just told me, Slender. I hate her, but you know damn well I'd rather spend time with you than sulk somewhere else and get none of what I want," Toby said, opening another box only to replace it when he found it to be a set of decorations they probably wouldn't need.

"It's for her birthday, right?" Toby asked, glancing back at Slender's blank face.

Slender nodded, impressed that Toby was capable of being mature like this rather than storming away like a child. It was what Toby normally did-act like a child.

"You don't need to treat me as if I'm stupid, Slender. I've lived here way longer than Kendra, I know you and everyone else who lives in this house like the back of my hand," Toby started, pulling out more birthday decorations as he talked, "and I may prefer to act like I'm nine, but you gotta remember I'm nineteen and I have a lot more wisdom than everyone seems to give me credit for."

Slender remained silent, listening to Toby intently as he watched him pull out more boxes.

"Besides that, I'm perfectly capable of realizing this is your attempt to not only socialize with me, but to get me to change my feelings about Kendra, which isn't likely to happen any time soon, so please try not to force the matter, would you?"

Slender sighed when Toby finally finished pulling out the decorations and turned towards him with a hurt look. He supposed the boy had a point, Slender had been trying to mend Toby's feelings towards Kendra to try and avoid further bullying from him, but that wasn't entirely fair to Toby.

"Alright, I am sorry Toby. You have the right to feel as you wish about other people, and it is wrong of me to try and take that away from you. However, I must ask that you put leash on your feelings and avoid bullying Kendra in the future."

Toby blinked, surprised that Slender had actually listened to him, then frowned as the last sentence registered.

"Wait, you think I'm _bullying_ her?" Toby asked, hurt that Slender would believe whatever Kendra might have told him rather than trying to at least get his side first.

"Toby, Kendra didn't tell me anything. She had been sobbing and I simply looked into her mind to find out why. What I found was you laughing at her after she asked you for help," Slender said, beginning to collect the boxes full of decorations so he could bring them out and figure out what he wanted to use for the upcoming party.

Toby's frown deepened, and he tried to think of the instance Slender was talking about. A minute later, understanding dawned on him. He'd been so busy laughing at her, he hadn't realized that she had been crying.

Instantly, guilt washed over him, and Toby wilted. He didn't like Kendra, sure, but he wasn't normally such a dick and he didn't understand what had compelled him to be so mean to her.

"Sorry," he muttered, grabbing the boxes to help Slender sort the decorations.

Slender gave an invisible smile, and ruffled Toby's hair affectionately. He viewed the boy as a son the same way he viewed Kendra as a daughter.

"I am not the one you need to apologize to, Toby. Now, why don't you try and talk to me about how you've been lately? I have been neglecting talking with you and I intend to make up for it now."


	37. Chapter 37

_How could he have led her on like that? How could he have let her begin to care for him only to have her find out that he had to_ kill people _in order to stay alive?_

 _Althea panted heavily as she ran through the forest, tears streaming down her dirty face. She had been running for what felt like hours, the trees blurring past her as her tears obscured her vision. The burning need to get away from the danger prevented her from stopping, from resting and gaining her breath once more._

 _Finally, a mangled root jutted up from the ground and her foot caught. Althea cried out as she hit the ground, pain shooting through her right ankle and the left side of her torso as she fell on a long jagged rock._

 _The blonde whimpered as she attempted to stand again, the pain burning through her. She tried to ignore it, determined to get farther away, to get somewhere where no one knew her and where Slenderman wouldn't be able to find her. Althea would curb her curiosity; she would turn into the flighty broad with no sense of self that everyone expected her to be._

 _Anything to get away from everyone that wanted to harm her._

 _Althea stood shakily, moaning quietly at the pain that increased when she tried to put weight on her injured foot. Her will wavered, and she sunk back to her knees._

 _How could she have let that… that_ monster _let her think he cared about her?_

 _Althea let out a sob, her exhaustion finally catching up to her. She had been running for a straight hour, the only pauses she took being when she would trip and land in the dirt or mud as one tumble had resulted. It was now that she had finally let herself stop the endless running that she felt the stinging of scrapes and throbbing of bruises alongside the burning of her ankle and ribs._

 _Althea brought a hand up to wipe the tears away from her eyes, her sobbing and her exhaustion making it impossible for her to have noticed the figure looming ahead and to the left of her…_

Althea shot up, a loud gasp piercing the silence of the dark room she had been sleeping in for the last several months. She shuddered, frowning at the low light the moon cast on the wall opposite her.

Ever since she had found that damned mansion two weeks ago, that nightmare plagued her. Every time Althea closed her eyes, the sight of that looming figure haunted her, forced her to relive the terror of that night three hundred years ago.

The woman growled in irritation, throwing the blanket she had been using off of her. She would not let that turning point of her life torment her, not when it had made her stronger, made her into what she is now.

The blonde grumbled to herself, walking into the kitchen on quiet feet. She glanced at the clock, and her scowl deepened when she noted the glowing green numbers. That blasted nightmare had woken her at three in the morning.

With sluggish movements, Althea began to brew a cup of coffee. She needed the energy it would give her if she wanted to go downstairs and play with the toys she had captured when she took over the house.

As she drank, Althea stared out of the kitchen window and let her mind wander over her plans, though incomplete as they were.

She had been debating between taking care of the one living in the cabin separate from the mansion and kidnapping the redheaded human she had seen outside the mansion to torment Slenderman. Of course, she supposed she could always do both, but if she did that she would need to time her actions perfectly.

If she killed the one in the cabin first, it would be damn near impossible to grab the human, but if she kidnapped the human first, Slenderman would likely bring the one in the cabin closer to him.

Althea sighed, taking her gaze away from the window and the night sky beyond. Planning her hunt for someone as powerful as her was going to be difficult, especially since she knew the man was protective of those he cared for.

At least, that was what she had gathered over her weeks of watching them.

Draining her mug, Althea rinsed it and placed it carefully in the sink. Now that she felt more awake, she began to move towards the basement door. The woman figured she had earned some play time with the family she kept trapped underneath the house, especially since she had been able to rein her curiosity in enough to avoid acting too quickly on her desire for revenge.

Scared whimpers greeted the blonde as she made her way down the stairs, and the sound brought a slow smile to her face. It was time to hear her favorite sounds-the screams for mercy and sobs of agony.

EJ stomped into his home, grumbling to himself. He had only about two or three more months of organs stocked up, and that was only if he kept rationing his food the way he was. Of course, it was difficult to keep organs fresh, so he had to eat the older food first, and the stale state of them nearly beginning the rotting process was starting to turn his stomach.

Jack had been out trying to find more people to harvest, and it seemed as if the summer hikers were avoiding the area for some reason. It was pissing him off, because he needed to _eat_ damn it!

EJ growled out his frustration, throwing open his fridge so he could grab a beer. It wasn't until he turned to enter the living room that he noticed the slim, almost elegant figure standing in his living room.

He frowned behind his mask, stepping cautiously into the room. As he did, he was able to see the details of the woman. She was relatively short, about the height of a dwarf from Lord of the Rings. The lady had bright blue eyes, though they shone with a cold calculation of someone who had shut themselves off from emotion. Her long, blonde hair was pulled up into a graceful bun, not a single strand falling from its place.

"What do you want?" EJ asked, twisting the cap of his beer off of the bottle to give an illusion of comfort, though Jack was anything but relaxed.

The woman tittered, shaking her head as her plump mouth pulled up into a venomous smile.

"How crude, you'd think you would at least let me introduce myself first," she said, her voice resembling the cold beauty of ice shards hanging on his roof in the winter.

"I don't like strange visitors coming into my house uninvited, the sooner you tell me what you want, the sooner you'll leave. So again I'll ask, what the hell do you want?" EJ asked, shifting his mask to the side in order to take a drink of his beer but still be able to keep an eye on the intruder without his vision leaving him.

The woman sighed, tsking at him in disdain. She had clearly thought he would be different, though exactly what she expected was beyond him. He lived alone for a reason.

"Very well, I'm here because I have a grudge to settle with someone who lives close by, and you happen to be the perfect person to start with to get my revenge," the blonde said, and before EJ could react, the shadows surrounding her shot at him.

Jack yelped in surprise, dropping his beer as the shadows wrapped tightly around his wrists and forced his arms to spread wide. More shadows wrapped around his waist, constricting until it was painful.

The pain didn't stop him from struggling. He yanked at the shadows binding his wrists, snarling in irritation and anger as he tried to get free.

The woman laughed, walking forward with a relaxed grace that only served to piss EJ off more.

"Let me go you crazy bitch!" he snapped, making the woman tsk again.

"You shouldn't speak that way in front of a lady," she said, giving him a mock expression of disappointment.

"Fuck. You," Jack snarled, glaring harshly at the hag.

The lady sighed, but said nothing. Instead, she put her long fingers on either side of Jack's displaced mask and pulled it off his face, taking his sight with it.

EJ stilled, the combined lack of sight and feeling of being bound making his chest constrict as terrifying memories flooded his mind. He could no longer speak, could no longer hear anything the woman said to him as the memories took on a realistic quality and threw him back into his captivity.

Althea raised a slim brow when the man in front of her began whimpering pathetically. All his fight had seemed to drain out of him the second she took off the mask.

"How interesting," she hummed, tapping a fingernail against the hard plastic of the mask in her hands. This little hunt of hers might be more fun than she had originally thought.


	38. Chapter 38

Jeff paused in his journey towards the library where Kendra was cleaning, frowning as he felt something off. He sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't really put his finger on exactly what it was.

After a moment of pondering the feeling, Jeff shrugged. Whatever it was, he was sure the problem would be sorted out soon.

Having reassured himself, Jeff continued his trek to the third floor. He carried a bucket filled with a variety of cleaning chemicals and dusters, anything Kendra had asked for to help in her task of cleaning the library.

It was fairly early in the day, and Kendra had been taking books from a shelf to organize when Jeff had walked in. She had grinned at him, and his heart had skipped a few beats. That smile had convinced him to help her with whatever she needed.

Now, he walked into the library again to see his little rose surrounded by stacks of books, one opened in her lap as she read. The sight made him smile, though he quickly dropped the expression when she looked up.

"Got the stuff you needed," he said, indicating the bucket he carried.

"Great!" Kendra said, excitement clear in her voice, "just put it on one of the tables for now, I'll show you how to clean the dust off of the shelves in a minute, I need to figure out which stack I need to put this book in."

Jeff nodded, setting the bucket down with a grunt. He turned, watching Kendra as she went back to reading the book.

Suddenly, she closed it and set it down in a stack to her left. Now that she had completed her task, Kendra stood and dusted off her legs.

"Okay, you got the wood polish in there? I can see the paper towels," Kendra asked, walking over to the bucket and digging through it.

"Yeah, took me a bit to find it though. I had to go to Slender to ask for it," Jeff explained, leaning against another table next to the one the cleaning supplies rested on.

"Ah, here it is. Okay, I'm gonna show you with the bottom shelf so I don't have to climb the ladder," she said, giving Jeff a warm smile.

The rest of the day was filled with Kendra removing books and sorting them while Jeff cleaned the shelves and tables in between. A few times she would call him over to ask him if he thought a certain book belonged in one category or another, and he would usually respond with a total guess.

The whole time, that bad feeling that plagued Jeff in the beginning of the day never left him. He could only hope that it would go away soon.

 _Jack Marshall muttered to himself, walking in the dark as he flipped through flash cards. He had a final in two days, and he'd been studying tirelessly whenever he had the chance. There was no way he'd fail that final and miss out on graduating, not when he was so close to being the youngest M.D. in America._

 _Headlights signaled a car approaching from behind him, but Jack paid no attention to them. He was on the edge of campus, so he felt relatively safe from any outside danger._

 _Jack stopped, frowning as he came across a term he couldn't name the definition of right off the bat. He stood there, refusing to go any farther or to flip the card until he at least tried to remember the term._

" _Damn it," he muttered, finally flipping the card to read the definition._

 _He only got two words in before there was a strange smelling cloth clamped over his mouth and nose._

 _Jack panicked, dropping his cards and clutching at the hand that was clamping the rag over his face. He knew the smell, and while the name of the drug slipped his mind, he knew he had at least five minutes to try and get away before he slipped into unconsciousness._

 _There was a grunt behind him, and he took that as meaning his captor was a male. Jack continued his struggle, holding his breath as he tried futilely to kick back and take the attacker off guard._

 _His breath quickened, and his vision began to go dark. The panic increased, and in a last ditch attempt to get away, Jack shoved his head backwards. He felt his skull make contact with the attacker's nose, and heard the other man curse quietly before his vision finally went black and his strength left him._

 _When he woke up, he was met with the cold white of a concrete cell._

 _Jack sat up, suppressing a groan of pain as his head throbbed. The pain seemed to center in the back of his skull, and he reached a hand back to make sure he didn't have any serious injuries. Sleeping when concussed was definitely not a good idea._

 _He felt only a small bump and some blood that he decided wasn't his when there was no indication of a cut. The blood itself was dried and crusty, flaking from his scalp when he touched it with a slight twinge of pain._

 _After deciding he wasn't in any danger of a serious injury, Jack started attempting to remember what happened before he ended up in this cell. His memory was foggy at best, the last clear thing running through his mind being leaving from work to go back to his dorm on campus. He had pulled out his deck of flashcards to study for finals._

 _At the memory of the cards, Jack winced as he remembered the rest of what happened. He'd been kidnapped, and the blood on the back of his head was likely from his attackers nose. Judging by the amount of blood on his head and the stickiness of the back of his shirt, it was likely he had broken the bastards nose._

 _A feeling of pride shot through him at the thought, and he chuckled at that small victory. At least he had put up a fight._

 _The cell door opened suddenly, and his smile dropped before his captor could see it and use it as an excuse to hurt him somehow._

 _The person he saw made his heart drop and his stomach twist._

" _Mark?" Jack asked, disbelief at seeing his best friend in front of him evident in his voice, expression, and body language._

 _Mark sighed, giving Jack a sad smile. He honestly hated to do this to his friend, but he was the only one who hadn't been affected by the new substance he had discovered, and he needed to run his experiments._

" _Hey, Jack. Sorry about before. I tried to tell Darrell that Chloroform wouldn't work right away. You're not too hurt, are you?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of the cot Jack had woken up on._

 _Jack shook his head, not liking that Mark had basically just told him he had been the one behind the entire kidnapping. He'd been crushing on the man for the better part of two years, and he had been trying to work up the courage to ask him out._

" _What's going on, Mark?" Jack asked, his voice shaking with each word. He had to hope that this was some sort of prank, some kind of elaborate set up to freak Jack out and result in a good laugh a few years down the road._

 _Mark shook his head, his expression seeming to grow sadder at the question._

" _The most I can tell you is that you're the subject of some medical research, I'm sorry Jack," he explained, hoping his friend would understand._

 _Jack frowned, glancing at the guard by the door. He was big, with bulky muscles and broad shoulders that were tensed up and ready for action. The guard had a broken nose, Jack could tell, and he used the knowledge to draw the conclusion that this was the Darrell that had kidnapped him._

 _Jack looked back at Mark, crossing his arms as a chill of foreboding prickled across his skin. He didn't like that sad look, he felt like it meant that Jack was much more than just a subject of medical research._

" _Galloway, if it were really as simple as medical research, we both know you would have just asked me instead of kidnapping me and forcing me into whatever it is you're planning," Jack said, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to dispel the chills._

 _Mark huffed a humorless laugh, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. The action was one that Jack usually found adorable, one he had always loved about Mark, but the situation he was in wouldn't let Jack admire the male in front of him._

" _I figured that wouldn't satisfy you, but it's really all I can tell you. I truly am sorry, Jack. You're smart, and it's a shame the world has to lose out on such an amazing doctor," Mark said, watching Jack closely with those large, sad eyes._

 _Jack frowned, hating how much his heart was racing at the sight of those deep brown eyes. He shook his head, looking away to keep himself from forgetting how wrong this situation was._

 _The attempt was successful until Mark turned his head back and kissed him._

 _Jack's breath hitched, and he froze. He couldn't even bring himself to kiss back, his shock widening his eyes into saucers._

 _Mark pulled away, standing as he gave a bitter laugh._

" _Yeah, I could tell you liked me. I figured I'd at least give you that considering what you're about to go through."_

 _Before Jack could say a word, Mark left the room, taking Jack's heart with him._


	39. Chapter 39

_Jack screamed in agony, struggling against his restraints as his eyes were being carefully dug out of his sockets. As soon as one was removed, a burning liquid oozed like tar into the empty space his eyeball had left._

 _The burning agony made Jack scream louder, the pain making it damn near impossible for him to hear the conversation the scientists that were carrying out the experiment were having._

" _Remarkable," one said, pulling back the container of the black goo he had just poured into the subject's eye socket, "as soon as the substance touched his blood, it went from red to black. What do you think that could mean?"_

 _The second shook her head, pushing up her glasses and writing down the observation in great detail._

" _No idea, but the subject is screaming about how it burns, yet the substance we're using is cold. Maybe it has some some kind of chemical property that reacts with his blood?" she said, writing down her words as she spoke them._

" _Dr. Galloway has certainly made quite the discovery," a third scientist added, placing the second eye he had just removed into a jar of yellowish liquid with its companion._

 _By now, the burning agony in the socket with the liquid had subsided and Jack had been reduced to pained sobs, the tears spilling down his face mixed with varying shades of red and black._

 _The first doctor nodded his agreement, moving around the table the subject was strapped to so he could pour the liquid into his other socket, and the screaming started again._

Althea tilted her head, removing her fingers from the man's eye socket. The second her fingers had touched the black goo on the edge of one socket, he had started screaming. She had barely grazed his skin, and now he was convulsing and screaming as if he was in great agony.

"How interesting," she muttered, tearing her eyes from the boy's face to look at the sticky substance coating her index and middle finger. It seemed to be growing warmer the longer she held it, though the gradual change made it easy for her to bear the climbing heat.

"It must react to body heat, perhaps it has an incredibly low boiling point?" she said to herself, standing and walking away from her prisoner.

It had been two days since she captured the grey skinned male, and she was beginning to wonder when Slenderman would come to find him. Surely he didn't just allow this boy to live here alone without checking up on him?

A knock at the door upstairs made Althea smile. It appeared her waiting had paid off.

Cleaning the substance from her fingers, Althea moved up the basement stairs to answer the door. She hoped it would be Slenderman on the other side of the door, but she wasn't foolish enough to not expect someone else from the mansion the man occupied.

"Yo Jack! You in there? Slender wants to see you at the mansion!" Jeff shouted, banging his fist against the door again.

Kendra sighed, shaking her head as she watched Jeff's impatience grow. He really was something else.

"Jeff, that's not going to make him answer the door any faster," Kendra said, smiling when Jeff shot her an irritated look.

"He usually opens the door before I can even knock, the fact that he hasn't now means something is wrong," he explained, going back to pounding on the door.

Kendra frowned, her brows furrowing.

"If something's wrong, shouldn't we just go in to make sure he's okay?" she asked, worry tensing her shoulders.

Jeff stopped, feeling like an idiot for not coming up with that sooner. Giving Kendra an apologetic look, he reached for the doorknob, ready to burst into the house to make sure his best friend was okay.

Before he could even turn the handle, the door opened to reveal a short blonde with a radiant smile. Jeff relaxed, assuming Jack had just brought home a whore and his lack of answering was probably due to that distraction.

"Oh hey, I need to talk to Jack," he said, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket.

Even though Jeff was able to relax easily, Kendra wasn't. Something about that woman's smile put her on edge, even if she couldn't really figure out why.

"Hello! He's a little busy at the moment, do you want to come in? I can take you to him," the woman said, her voice sending shivers of apprehension down Kendra's spine.

Before Kendra could protest, Jeff grinned and answered.

"You don't need to take us to him, we'll just wait in the living room until he's ready," he said, stepping inside the house when the blonde moved aside.

Kendra followed reluctantly, still unnerved by the woman's smile. The redhead wished she could place why she felt so anxious, but as it were, she would have to wait for the lady to leave the room so she could voice her worries to Jeff.

"In that case, it may be a while. Jack told me he was going to be gone until tomorrow. Why don't you two wait in the guest bedroom until then?"

 _That_ made Jeff put his guard up. Jack would _never_ have left this woman alone in his home alive. Still, Jeff needed to figure out what was going on, so he nodded and gestured for Kendra to follow him to the guest room.

Kendra, sensing the change in Jeff's guard, followed him easily. When they entered the room and Jeff had closed and locked the door, the two moved to a far corner away from the door and began to whisper to each other.

"That lady gives me the creeps," Kendra said instantly, frowning over at the door.

Jeff nodded, glancing around the room as he tried to figure out how to find his friend.

"Yeah, Jack never would've let the woman be here alone and be alive for that long, he has serious trust issues. We need to find him and get out of here before the hag realizes-" he stopped, noticing Kendra's terrified expression.

"Hag? Now, Jeff, there's no need to be so rude. I have been so hospitable, and we've just met," a cold voice said behind him, the suppressed anger and hidden cruelty in her words making him shudder.

Jeff turned, scowling at the blonde that was now sitting on the only bed in the room. He glanced at the door, wondering why he hadn't heard her messing with the lock or entering the room.

"Oh, locks don't keep me out," the woman explained, noticing Jeff's glance and waving away his confusion.

"What? How is that possible?" Kendra asked, her voice remaining strong, though Jeff noticed her hands shaking.

The blonde chuckled, swinging one leg over the other, gracefully crossing them. Her easy going attitude was pissing Jeff off, and he couldn't help but grip the handle of his knife in his hoodie.

The woman seemed to notice, because as soon as his fingers closed around the hilt, she waved her hand and a shadow shot towards him, wrapping around his arm to force it out of his pocket.

Jeff snarled, glaring at the lady in front of him, her smile gentle and her arms laid in her lap. She was completely relaxed, seeing no threat in him. The sight angered him more, and he had to resist giving in to the growing bloodlust. He hadn't killed anyone in a while, and this bitch would make the _perfect_ first victim.

"Now now, there is no need for weapons, Jeffrey. I only want to talk," the lady said, glancing at the redhead standing behind him, "well, I only want to talk to her. You'd do best to keep your mouth shut, alright?"

Kendra tensed, eyeing the lady suspiciously. What could she possibly want to talk to her about?

"Kendra, was it?" the blonde asked, and Kendra gave a terse nod. Even at the action the woman waited, and Kendra took the hint.

"Yes," she said, glad her voice wasn't shaking as much as she was.

"Wonderful, I'm Althea. Now, with formalities aside, I've been meaning to ask you, what brought you to Slenderman's mansion? Why would he be interested in a human such as yourself?" Althea asked, her tone filled with genuine curiosity.

Kendra frowned in confusion, glancing at Jeff, who was still glowering at the strange blonde. She wondered what this woman could possibly have planned, and why she would want to know something like that. Still, Kendra saw no harm in answering truthfully.

"Well… Jeff originally kidnapped me," she answered, looking back at Althea, not seeing the guilt that flashed across Jeff's features.

Althea however, did notice, and she tilted her head curiously.

"Is that so? Then why aren't you dead now? How long have you been living at the mansion?" she asked, leaning forward to watch the two in front of her more closely.

Kendra hesitated again, thinking through her words carefully before she answered.

"Jeff wasn't supposed to kidnap me, so when Slender found out that I was there, he made the decision to have me live there indefinitely so that Jeff would have to live with the consequences of breaking that rule. I've been living with them for one year now."

Althea nodded, watching as Jeff seemed to go from angered to guilt ridden as Kendra recounted the events.

 _How interesting,_ she thought, looking back to Kendra, who was waiting for her next question. The girl seemed to have no idea that Jeff felt so guilt ridden about causing her so much pain.

"How old are you?" Althea asked suddenly, making Kendra blink in surprise. That wasn't the type of question she had been expecting.

"...Eighteen," Kendra answered, figuring she was close enough to her birthday to be able to answer that way.

Althea nodded, straightening again only to stand from her seat on the bed.

"Alright, it's getting late. I'll allow you two to stay in here, since you're such a cute couple," Jeff's tense posture at the statement didn't escape her notice, "but you're going to be chained up in my shadows, so please save me the headache of trying to escape."

Kendra felt a chill send goosebumps up her right leg, and she looked down to see a shackle wrapped around her ankle, the chain coming off of it not connecting anywhere in particular. Both were made of shadows.

"Oh, and just because they don't look connected, doesn't mean they aren't. I'm allowing you two freedom of the room, but the second you try to leave it will hold you to the floor until I decide to let you get up again, is that understood?" Althea asked, her tone light but her expression sharp and threatening.

Kendra had no doubt that the woman was completely serious.


	40. Chapter 40

Jeff gave a shout of frustration, stabbing his knife in the wall next to his head. He'd been pacing for an hour, trying to think of a way to escape and warn Slender about what was going on. Every idea he had come up with required either him or Kendra leaving the room, and that was impossible thanks to the damned chains the crazy bitch had left on him.

"Jeff, you need to calm down. Stabbing the wall isn't going to help, and you know it. We'll just have to sit tight until an opportunity presents itself," Kendra said, sitting on the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest.

Jeff glowered at her, ripping his knife from the wall. He noticed the girl flinch, and had to suppress his instinctual reaction of tormenting her.

"That's easy for _you_ to say," he snapped, resuming his pacing, " _you_ don't seem to have a problem with feeling trapped. _You_ don't see the walls closing in on us."

Kendra frowned, tilting her head as she watched Jeff and listened to him talk.

"Jeff, are you claustrophobic?" she asked, worry filling her tone.

"No!" he snarled, stopping his pacing to level a firm glare on her. He didn't like having the one thing he was terrified of being pointed out so easily.

Kendra sighed, repositioning herself so that she could lean her back on the wall behind the bed, then patted the empty space next to her.

Jeff hesitated, then rolled his eyes and complied, sitting in front of her on the edge of the mattress, though his leg bounced anxiously.

Kendra shifted again, moving closer to Jeff so she could put her hand on his shaking thigh. He stopped, looking at her with open fear. He trusted her, she realized. Jeff trusted her not to expose this one simple thing about him, and her heart warmed at the thought. She smiled softly, moving her hand from his leg to his cheek.

"Everything is going to be okay, Jeff," she said, gently stroking her thumb across his face.

Jeff felt his heart stop. Kendra was _so close_ , her face only inches away from his. It would be so easy to just lean forward, close that little bit of distance between them, and press his mouth to hers. He almost did exactly that, almost kissed her, until he remembered that he had been the cause of so much of her pain.

Suddenly coming to his senses, Jeff sighed. He grabbed Kendra's hand, gently removing it from his face and setting it down on the bed between them. Now wasn't the time for him to pine after her.

"Jeff?" Kendra asked softly, frowning at his actions and totally unaware of how badly Jeff wished he could kiss her right then.

"Listen, Kendra," Jeff started, unsure of exactly what he wanted to say to her, "you should probably stay away from me."

"What?" Kendra asked, shocked and hurt by the suggestion.

Jeff was just as surprised as she was, but he recognized the sense of the statement, so he continued, doing his best to explain what he meant.

"Okay, that came out a little wrong. I didn't mean that as you did something wrong. Honestly, it's the opposite, you're absolutely perfect. It's because you're so perfect that we should probably avoid being in close quarters like this," he started, watching Kendra to gouge her reaction.

"You're not making any sense, Jeff," she said, frowning as she tried to figure out what the hell he was getting at.

Jeff sighed, rubbing that back of his neck as he glanced around the room. At least the walls weren't closing in on him anymore, he supposed, but then he would almost prefer to deal with his panic than talk to Kendra about this. Almost.

"Kendra, I…" he stopped, frowning as he tried to come up with a way to explain without telling her that he loved her.

"You what?" Kendra pushed, tilting her head to get a better look at his face now that he was looking away from her.

"I can't control myself around you very well," he said, flinching at how crass that sounded.

Kendra blinked, staring at Jeff with a blank expression, as if she was expecting him to say more.

"That's it?" she asked incredulously, her frown deepening. They were trapped in the guest room of his best friends house, and he was afraid he was going to _jump_ her?

Jeff realized he may have said the wrong thing, so he rushed to try and fix his mistake, though he wasn't sure what that mistake was.

"Just now, I had almost kissed you. You were being so kind and understanding and you were so close, I almost gave in and let myself kiss you. If it weren't for the fact that I had been the cause of just about everything going wrong in your life and that I feel absolutely terrible about it, I would've kissed you," he explained, and understanding dawned on her features, and then a smile that he didn't expect pulled up the corners of her lips.

"That is so incredibly sweet of you, Jeff," she said, giggling when his face turned into one of total surprise and confusion, "you're worried that I'll get upset with you again, that you acting on impulse will make me mad. You want to make up for what you've done in the past by restraining yourself, and that's just about the sweetest thing you've ever done."

After her explanation, Kendra leaned forward and kissed Jeff's cheek in gratitude. He's changed so much since she had started living in the mansion with him, and she was so proud of him for doing his best to change the way he treated her.

Jeff blushed, looking away in an attempt to hide his red face from her. Kendra had noticed, and the action made her giggle again. He really had turned into such a sweetheart.

"Let's get some rest, okay? We need to build our strength for the next time Althea decides to come in and ask me weird questions."

Jeff nodded, standing to sit in the chair that was positioned in a corner by the window. The spot would give him the ability to keep an eye on Kendra and both entrances into the room. Thank God that crazy bitch hadn't taken his knife from him so he could protect his favorite rose.

Kendra sighed, laying back on the bed and getting comfortable. She wasn't stupid, she figured Jeff had some kind of feelings for her, but she had no idea of the extent. If it weren't for the fact that she still felt pain over her breakup with BEN, and if they weren't the captives of some psychotic woman that controls shadows and was super curious about Kendra, she might consider giving Jeff a chance.

But those things were happening, Kendra's heart was hurting, and they both had shackles on their ankles to keep them in the room, so having another relationship was the last thing on her mind. She was honestly glad that Jeff seemed to understand that, and as a result was making an effort to restrain himself.

Kendra would have to figure out some way to thank Jeff when they got out of the mess they were in. With that thought, the redhead pulled the blanket over her shoulders and closed her eyes.


	41. Chapter 41

Slender could feel something was wrong. He'd sent Kendra and Jeff out yesterday to pick up EJ, and he knew they would have had trouble trying to get Jack to come back, but they should have been home by now. And yet when Slender looked around, he couldn't see nor hear any sign of the three being in the house.

"What could be keeping them?" he asked himself, pacing back and forth in front of the mansion, Toby watching him from the porch steps while Rowtag hung from a branch and stared with his dead looking eyes.

"Maybe Jack knocked them out or something?" Toby suggested, trying to put Slender's mind at ease.

Slender shook his head, certain that wasn't the case. Kendra would have called him the second she woke up to let him know.

Toby sighed, looking at Rowtag with a pleading expression. He just wanted Slender to stop pacing and go back to spending time with him, was that so much to ask?

Rowtag read the expression and rolled his eyes. The wendigo preferred to eat humans, not befriend them. They had too many complicated feelings and drama that confused him. Still, he liked Toby, the kid was usually simple minded, and would on occasion bring Rowtag something to eat. For that reason, he spoke up.

" _Perhapsss you should go look for them? Put your mind at ease and stop stressing Toby and everyone who is watching you from the windowsss,"_ he suggested, his eyes dropping to the branch underneath him when he caught the movement of a millipede.

Slender considered the suggestion, pausing in his pacing to glance back at the windows of the mansion. Sure enough, he could see the faces of many of the killers that lived with him peeking out. A sigh escaped him, and he made his decision.

"Very well. Rowtag, Toby, I want you two to come with me. I may need the help in case my intuition is correct and something has gone awry," he said, leaving no room for argument.

Toby grunted in answer, getting to his feet and walking forward to stand next to Slender. It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but anything was better than watching Slender pace the yard with an air of worry surrounding him.

Rowtag scowled, but didn't protest. He should have known that Slender would ask him to join, but that didn't decrease his irritation at having to face potential danger any less.

" _For our sssake, I hope your intuition isss wrong asss well."_

Althea yawned, frowning as she stared at EJ. The man had been still and silent for the better portion of two hours, and it was boring her. She wanted him to whimper, flinch, do _something_ to entertain her other than sit there, slumped over in defeat.

"Well, you're no longer any fun without the mask," she grumbled, crossing her arms.

Of course, she could always put the mask back on, but Althea felt that if she did she risked him getting free. She was putting a lot of concentration into keeping her shadow chains connected to her, and as a result she had had to weaken the bonds of her hidden captive.

"This is bullhonky, you're boring and the other two haven't done anything to entertain me yet!" she whined, stomping her foot on the floor like a child.

Althea groaned at the continued lack of response, deciding to return to the main floor of the house. Honestly, was it too much to ask for some entertainment around here? She pouted, flopping herself onto the tattered couch and promptly glared at the blank wall in front of her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Althea saw a familiar shadow grow along the curtains of the living room window. She tensed, her eyes widening as memories flooded her mind. This was the moment she had been planning for decades, and now that it was literally at the door, she wasn't sure she was ready for it.

Panic gripped her chest when there was a knock on the door, the feeling increasing when she saw another shadow press its face against the window. Althea looked around the room, wishing desperately for a place to hide. She wasn't _ready_ for this confrontation, damn it!

" _Celare me Nominis Umbra,"_ Althea whispered, and immediately her shadows, her trusted friends, cloaked her.

The door opened, and Althea had to resist the urge to cry out. There stood Slenderman ducking down to fit his head through the doorway and look around. She had no idea just how much she had missed her old friend, even if he had betrayed her and made her into what she was.

Slender looked around the empty room, his nonexistent mouth pulling into a frown. There was an energy here he was familiar with, but he couldn't recognize it for the life of him. He stepped inside the house, being forced to hunch over due to the low ceiling.

"...Tobias, please check the basement, Rowtag you check the guest room, I will check Jack's room," he said, ignoring the irritated sigh Toby gave him and the aggravated grunt from Rowtag.

After the two had done as he asked, Slender hesitated a few more moments, trying to place the familiar energy even though he had to find the others.

Althea watched the tall man, terror playing with her nerves. She wanted him to leave so she could revise her plans to get her revenge.

Rowtag grumbled to himself, the negative energy he had been feeling in the forest as of late being the strongest it had ever been. He was nervous, as much as it irritated him. A click signified the lock he had been picking with his claws had been undone, and he opened the door only to be met with a sharp knife being pressed to his neck.

Jeff snarled, ready to slice the neck of his victim before a guttural hiss made him actually look at who he had just attacked.

"Rake?" he asked, baffled by the appearance of the wendigo.

Rowtag glared, shoving the knife away from his neck.

" _I break you out of the room and thissss isss how you treat me?"_ he snapped, stepping back and waiting for Jeff to leave so he could get back to the trees. When Jeff didn't move, Rowtag felt his frustration grow.

" _What are you waiting for?"_

Jeff sighed, shoving his knife back in his hoodie pocket before answering, "I can't leave."

" _What the hell do you mean you can't leave? Jusssst sssstep out of the room!"_

"I can't!" Jeff snapped, now returning the glare Rowtag was giving him.

" _Why the hell not?"_ Rowtag asked, resisting the urge to dig his claws into the carpet. He _hated_ being on the ground.

"Because if I try, some crazy bitch's shadow chain is going to have me trapped on the floor," Jeff answered, gesturing towards the shackle on his ankle with an irritated flourish.

Rowtag looked at the shackle, noticing it for the first time in the last ten minutes. He scowled, not liking that Jeff had a valid reason for being a frustrating dick. After a moment of pushing back his anger and nerves, Rowtag got closer to see if he could try and pick the lock on it as well.

" _Where the fuck isss the keyhole?"_ he muttered, grabbing Jeff's leg and lifting it up. The second his foot was past the doorway, the disconnected chain that was linked to the shackle grew and wrapped itself around him, forcing out a yelp as he was suddenly slammed to the ground.

Rowtag watched in surprise, not expecting the sudden development. A few minutes of silence passed before the Rake burst out laughing, dropping Jeff's leg so he could clutch his stomach. The laughter earned a pissed shout, Jeff attempting to squirm his way out of the chains with little success.

"Stop laughing you ass, and get me outta here!"

Slender appeared in the hallway, looking at a laughing Rowtag and a chained up Jeffery.

"What is going on here?" Slender asked, his confusion obvious with his tone. Honestly, how on Earth had Jeffery become chained to the floor?

"Rake is being an ass!" Jeff shouted, glaring at the wendigo in disdain.

" _You look ridiculousss!"_ Rowtag hissed through his cackles, giving Jeff a smug grin.

"Rowtag, honestly. Why aren't you helping him out of those chains?" Slender asked, approaching Jeff to try and get him out of the predicament.

Before he could examine the chains, Toby crashed up the stairs and looked at Slender with worry and fear.

"Slender you need to see this!" he said, his breathing frantic in his panic.

Slender stood, going to follow the boy down to the basement, freezing when he saw the sorry state of Jack. He was shaking, his arms restrained by shadows and his eyes leaking black tears. Slender knew this look. Jack was going through painful, traumatizing memories.

"God, what happened to you?" he asked quietly, rushing forward to try and help the man.

Slender looked around the basement, hoping desperately that Ej's mask could be found. He cursed under his breath when he saw no sign of it, and decided to try and remove his restraints instead.

Althea carefully moved herself into the basement, doing her best to remain undetected by anyone else in the house. She found herself grateful that she kept the mask hidden in the bedroom obviously used by her first captive, but she knew it wouldn't take Slender long to break the weak bonds keeping the grey skinned freak in place.

The blonde scowled, realizing her plans at this point were either ruined or would have to be pushed back. She hated when her carefully planned schedule was ruined, but it couldn't be helped this time, she may as well release her prisoners and save up her energy.

" _Dimittas,"_ she whispered the spell, commanding her shadows to dissipate around the three she had captive.

As soon as she felt the strain of extending so many shadows at once ease, Althea moved to leave the premise and return to her borrowed home. She had plans to revise, after all.


End file.
